Brooklyn Raises $10K For Tamale Vendor Facing COVID, Eviction

BROOKLYN, NY — A fundraiser set up for a longtime Brooklyn tamale vendor facing eviction and a coronavirus diagnosis has raised more than $10,000 in just two weeks.

The GoFundMe, set up by the Urban Justice Center's Street Vendor Project, had pulled in $10,772 in donations as of Wednesday for Sonia Perez, who has sold tamales on Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick for 20 years.

It comes as Perez — who, along with her entire family, recently came down with coronavirus — struggles to pay bills after a full year out of work given the coronavirus pandemic.

Perez, who advocates for vendors with SVP, said this week the fundraiser has motivated her to keep giving back to the vendor community.

“I feel very happy, overwhelmed, and appreciative, especially to the SVP," she told a Latinx/Spanish organizer with SVP. "I really did not think we would reach the goal, but it is in times like these that you notice how much support exists from our comrades, our allies, and in our community."

The money raised will help Perez, a grandmother and mother of four, keep her family in their home by covering rent, electricity and gas bills. After she was unable to pay three months of rent, Perez's landlord had been texting and calling her every day threatening to evict her family, according to the fundraiser.

Perez has been unable to sell her tamales for a full year given health complications that make vending during the coronavirus crisis dangerous and hasn't gotten any state or federal relief, organizers said.

The father of her children, who helped support the family, also recently passed away.

"Sonia and her family need your help to survive the next few months," the fundraiser reads. "Sonia is a fierce advocate for her community, and now she's needs her community to support her through this difficult time."

The Street Vendor Project is among a coalition of organizations who have fought throughout the pandemic for "Excluded Workers," which include undocumented, recently-incarcerated or self-employed New Yorkers who don't qualify for state and federal aid.