SoHo restaurant raises $50,000 for Ukrainians, customer matches donation

SOHO, Manhattan (WABC) — A popular Manhattan restaurant did a good deed by donating all of its sales to help raise funds for Ukrainians, but was matched only by the generosity of one customer.

At the Balthazar restaurant in SoHo, where French cuisine melts in your mouth and the mind tilts the eyebrows, who would have thought that a stroke of the pencil, a sip of this wine and a little of this cheese would contribute to peace?

On Tuesday evening, the restaurant donated all proceeds from its dinner to UNICEF’s Protect Children in Ukraine charity.

The energy within was unmistakable.

“The bar was crowded in a way that even the weekend didn’t fit,” said Zouheir Louhaichy of Balthazar. “It was really really great. For a Tuesday night, we were so busy.”

READ ALSO | Here’s how to donate, help Ukraine amid Russian attacks

The restaurant raised $50,000 on Tuesday night, and then one of its customers matched by donating another $50,000.

“Yes, I’m surprised. It’s a huge sum,” Louhaichy said. “A very charming man. A long-time regular.”

And that wasn’t the only way locals showed their support for Ukraine. All across the tri-state area, people have opened their wallets and their hearts.
At St. Mark’s Catholic Academy in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, students held a special fundraiser for Ukrainian children.

READ ALSO | LIST: Ikea, Apple, Ford among firms cutting ties with Russia over Ukraine invasion

The school raised over $2,000 for “Voices of Children,” which provides psychological and psychosocial support to war-affected children. Never too young to make a difference.

In Hicksville, Long Island firefighters stuffed their faces with meatballs to raise money for emergency relief in Ukraine.

A homemade meatball eating contest on National Meatball Day at DiMaggio’s Pizzeria.

New Yorkers have shown that there are all kinds of ways to help complete strangers on another continent, in times of need.

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