GoFundMe Aims To Save Dry Cleaners Owned By 'Mayor Of Park Slope'

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Mayor Bill de Blasio isn't the only mayor from Park Slope.

A new GoFundMe has been set up to help a longtime dry cleaners whose owner Grace Roche's dedication to the community has earned her the nickname of "the Mayor of Park Slope" from neighbors.

Roche, who took over the Berkeley Place business almost 15 years ago, is struggling to pay rent for the storefront and her own apartment as customers stay home amid the coronavirus crisis, according to the fundraiser.

"GR’s Cleaners provides laundry and tailoring services, but its primary source of income is dry cleaning," organizer Brooks Sherman writes. "In the several months since NYC instituted social distancing measures, with so many people still unable or unwilling to travel to an office, business has plummeted."

The fundraiser aims to raise $16,000 to cover the shop's $4,000 rent through the end of the year.

"Our hope is that this will help Grace keep her business afloat until we have a better sense of the economic and societal fallout of COVID-19 in the city," Sherman writes.

Organizers say the campaign can help neighbors pay back a business that has brought "so much joy" to the community for decades.

Roche took over the dry cleaners, once called Park Slope Clothes Care, in 2006 after the previous owner passed away and left her the business, according to the fundraiser.

She had worked there since 1990 after immigrating to the United States from the Philippines in 1982.

"GR’s Cleaners is something of a local landmark; parents running quick errands often leave their children in the shop, neighbors who are traveling outside the city often arrange for their packages and mail to be dropped off there, and Grace herself has on numerous occasions helped members of the community who have been sick or otherwise unable to care for themselves," Sherman writes.

The GoFundMe is among many that have popped up to help New York City's small businesses stay open through the coronavirus crisis, which could force as many as one-third of the city's small businesses to close, according to recent studies.

In Park Slope, neighbors have also raised money for staff at Nitehawk Cinema and a number of local bars.