Thanks to the generous support of the community through a GoFundMe.com drive, the LGBTQ-friendly restaurant Ritcey East in Watertown, Massachusetts has avoided closing their doors.
Reports MassLive.com:
When Max Ritcey opened Ritcey East, offering homemade “comfort food” in Watertown six years ago, he never imagined the impact his own story and restaurant would have on the community.
“I don’t think we give people enough credit of, like, how much people do want this because it’s not just a queer community in Watertown and around that’s, like, lifting me up. It is everyone around here, and they’ve seen everything,” he said.
The 36-year-old’s gender transition two years ago was very “front-facing,” he described. Although he was often worried about other people’s comments, Ritcey was impressed with how much “positive feedback” he got for being so open and honest with his community.
“They saw me at all different things and my vulnerability, you know, of announcing, you know, the change in who I am and still facing people and correcting people in that time,” Ritcey continued. “I guess people see it as honorable.”
Little did Ritcey know that this same community would support him through an incredibly difficult financial hardship. Ritcey was one of many small business owners who struggled to stay open during the COVID-19.
Throughout the pandemic, Ritcey kept his employees working full-time by funneling all the restaurant’s earnings into their paychecks. Meanwhile, loans given out by the state and federal government helped the business stay afloat. Ritcey even took out an additional $150,000 loan to help keep the doors open. …
When Ritcey noticed that numbers were not still where they should be at the start of the year, he launched a GoFundMe to help pay off his loans and credit card debt.
The restaurant owner originally asked for $30,000, but through the campaign, Venmo, cash and checks, Ritcey collected about $43,000. He said the overwhelming amount of support was a huge confidence booster, not just for his restaurant, but for himself.
“As a trans person, I spent so long hating myself and, like, it’s just crazy to think that so many people like me after I spent so long not liking myself,” he said. “That really feels good for me.”
Read the complete MassLive.com story here.
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