Sixteen businesses come together to help organize after-funeral luncheon
Maritza Ramos, center, walks into the Old Mill Yacht Club in Howard Beach for a private after-funeral luncheon. The Ramos family was joined by members of the 84th Precinct and Howard Beach officials.
Posted: Wednesday, December 31, 2014 10:30 am | Updated: 12:48 pm, Wed Dec 31, 2014.
After Officer Rafael Ramos’ body was laid to rest in Cypress Hills Cemetery, his family and officers with the 84th Precinct made the trek to the Old Mill Yacht Club in Howard Beach.
Maritza Ramos, Ramos’ widow, handed a U.S. flag that had been ceremoniously folded and handed to her earlier that morning to John Giangrasso, a financial secretary with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, and greeted the yacht club’s commodore, Jeffrey Duldulao, before walking in.
The family and members of the 84th Precinct were then brought into a private room at the club and sat down to a private meal, which was catered by several area restaurants and catering halls.
The affair was private. It was not broadcast to the country like the funeral earlier that morning and the Queens Chronicle was the only media invited.
The luncheon was part of an effort that began in Brooklyn and had several Howard Beach and other Queens businesses pitch in to help out any way they could.
Theresa Baretta, the co-owner of the Brooklyn-based bar Brownstone, said she and her husband Sal have been donating food to the 84th Precinct, located near the bar, since Ramos and his partner Wenjian Liu were assassinated in their squad car on Dec. 20.
“All of the police officers come into the bar to have lunch and we just became such close friends with all of them,” she said, adding she never personally met Liu or Ramos.
And although they thought of holding the after-funeral luncheon at the Brownstone, they needed a bigger space to host the precinct and Ramos’ family.
“We also needed somewhere that was close to the cemetery,” Sal Baretta added.
Sal Baretta said he picked the Old Mill Yacht Club because his 50th birthday party was held there and he had fond memories of the place.
Theresa Baretta called Duldulao on the Tuesday before the funeral.
For Duldulao, Baretta’s call was a blessing.
“I’ve been asking myself ‘What can I do to help out these officers?’” he said. “When I got the call from Sal, I said to the big man upstairs ‘Thank you.’”
He said he immediately started calling area business owners to see how they could help out.
Throughout the next five days, assistance came from 14 other businesses who donated everything from ice, food, tables, chairs and even portable toilets.
“The entire community came together,” Duldulao said.
The businesses that helped with the event, in addition to the Old Mill Yacht Club and the Brownstone, are Russo’s on The Bay, Russo’s Bakery, Manhattan Beer Distributors, Hampton Bay, Snapple Co., Almonte’s Key Food, Ace Hardware, Call-a-Head, Roma View Catering, Busy Beverage, Ragtime Gourmet, Lenny’s Pizzeria and Lenny’s Clam Bar.
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