We're in this together - The Irish in NYC during Coronavirus

hello and welcome to this nationwide special coming to you this evening from New York City at the moment as you can see I'm standing in front of the stunning Manhattan skyline and to say to you that these are extraordinary times were living through of course as you know is an understatement but over the next half an hour here in nationwide we're going to be bringing you stories of the Irish community here in New York about how they are coming together to help each other through this crisis coming up on the program the Irish bar empty in the kitchen I'm giving the food to its staff no loaf of bread and there's a bit of butter and a bit of fruit and there's MRV da da da using social media to uplift and encourage know that you need it I'm sharing it with you right now working from home and working together what's it like living with the girls here and working with by the same time save that for the Aged [Music] looking out for those at most risk in the community O'Brien a I'm just calling to check in and see how you're keeping it's just very nerve-racking I try not to watch TV too much because that drive me nuts [Music] but first we wanted to start tonight with a reminder of a very important and free service for the Irish community in New York City cold soulless house it's such an incredible view Rebecca is it yeah really great view of the city in the Williamsburg Bridge you're originally from Waterford yep how many years ago did you move to New York City seven years ago now I'm a j1 on a j-1 so originally it was just meant to be for a few months a few months yeah and you were having such a good time such a great time you said I never want to leave never want to leave and then you work for an organization called solace house so why exactly just saw this house - so we're a suicide prevention center and we work predominantly with the Irish community in New York here and why was solace established in the first place we identified the need a couple of years ago for a free mental health service for Irish people here a lot of the Irish are undocumented or don't have health insurance and had nowhere to act know where to go to access mental health services that were really critical for them so we wanted to create a service that was free a home away from home somewhere where they could go when they had nowhere else to turn so at a time like this Rebecca when we're all facing this worldwide pandemic and there's so much uncertainty causing so much anxiety has the service really being called upon more than ever unbelievably so they're terrified they're lonely they feel a huge disconnect from Ireland from their family they don't know what the future holds for them anymore and a lot of them have lost their jobs current clients and new clients have you know all of a sudden overnight their world is coming crumbling down so no matter what happens we're gonna be here we are definitely going to get through this and we're gonna help the Irish through this because now they need us more than ever [Music] as night falls over New York once the city that never slept now its bars restaurants and clubs are empty [Music] in the East Village of Manhattan jackdaw is a new Irish bar which was opened nine months ago by Sligo friends Roman character and Paul McDade every day is different it's fun people are fun you got to meet new people every day changing trains cocktails new food it's like professional it was a difficult to open a new place like this and get it open warning definitely was difficult to talk it took a lot of like work we had obviously spent a lot of time looking for the place and you know there's such a hard City to find the right spot the right time to write everything and I'd say we looked at over a hundred places in New York before we found this one of course the bar we're sitting in now is empty you don't know when it's gonna be opened up again what are you both feeling at the moment there's a lot of anxiety there I think really to like it all happened very fast like even at this point like you're still kind of reeling in it I mean a week ago nobody was even really taking it as I mean compare ibly very seriously and now our business is closed so we're hoping that we can work something out with the landlord and that she's a she's nice to us but I think we see how many people employed here 12 or 13 or 12 or 13 so again just overnight you had to call them in and say what's of them pretty much everybody's unemployed until the foreseeable future we don't know although they're closed Holland Roden have come into the bar today 10 empty the fridges and give all the food to their staff for free I mean the shops like are emptied like that it's crazy to find meat as difficult toilet roll simple things like so anything we have you know we're willing to give away it's a you know firstly the staff and people that have really lost out initially and then any friends that we have [Music] there's a jovial atmosphere in the air as the Irish staff gathered together but the reality is they are worried they don't know when they will have their jobs back like Aaron from Dublin well it's at the moment we don't know when we're going to be back in work and stuff like that so it's going to affect paying rent and and just general day-to-day living and you were in at the moment what did you get today I know loaf of bread and you might be the lawyer today and there's a bit of both are in a bit of fruit in there so I think she'd be a well I just taken a table day at the moment and then seeing how things go just joined the state positively but the origin Mundi anywhere to go in the world I think they they stick together and they are they're quite close knit so as I said the lads and everybody else here all can hear each you know giving a hand to one another which is which is good to say [Music] it's a very Irish thing sometimes maybe to not talk or not reach out to people you know it's further the fact of maybe being in need definitely you know reach out to people taught to be Brazilians in the same boat will be back absolutely definitely no so yeah of course so hopefully sooner rather than later the spiral be packed again and business back to normal let's hope so some some good Friday evening soon [Music] good morning [Music] [Music] tarah Marzouki is better known to her thousands of online followers as Terramar she's a social-media influencer from Cork and has been living here for five years I am from Cork City privately and your mom and dad you talk to them often of course of course you have to ring the Irish mommies often and keep them updated of course I've been worried about them I've been checking in making sure they have everything that they need but it's tough because both my parents are you know in a situation where they kind of are their immune systems aren't the best so it's definitely tough decision for me to choose to stay here but I know it's its safest option normally Tara is creating content about lifestyle of fashion but recently she has been making an effort to keep up the spirits of her followers I'm trying to say it turned me optimistic I'm not feeding into the panic because no matter what it just doesn't change anything you have hundreds of thousands of followers Tara across all of your platforms many of them Irish living here in New York and if there was one thing you wanted them to take away at a time like this watching yourself what would that be I think you know we're all sort of in this together the really nice thing about the Irish community in New York City is that we really do all bond together at times like this you know in when you're away from home your friends are your family and I think once we make the most of that really and really be with each other check in with each other even though we're kind of recommended you know to social distance really it's for me it's more physical distance we still socially can be there for each other you know facetiming checking in and I'm just keeping connected and actually having those conversations and we never really get to have with all of the other things going on in her lives it's funny yet because you know everyone's normally caught up in the rat race in New York or Napoli I read the other day on Twitter that someone said the ironic thing is that at a time when we're becoming more distant physically we're actually becoming closer together through social media this is the great thing about social media I mean sometimes I think as content creators and people that post a lot online and that have some amount of following we can forget how much of an impact that we can have Tara recently promoted a campaign to raise money to buy meals for those who need them at this time and she received a huge response from her followers we also raised like 550 meal is so far for the NYC Food Bank which is crazy and thank you for your donations in 24 hours we raised something like 600 meals and it's just like little things like that and kind of using my platform to kind of do something with it's it's a really positive way for me to kind of use my platform just let you guys know that I'm thinking of everyone and I hope that this video and joining me for another weekly vlog kind of gave you some solids away from like all of the craziness that's going on are you worried are you optimistic you upbeat how are you feeling I've always found for me being on social media and being online as an escapism through stressful times in my life so my job is kind of now to provide that for other people and especially times like this this is how I know I can help is by showing up every day bringing just a small amount of normality to people's lives for me being online and kind of being a positive influence just for a couple of minutes a day is I'm it really gets me up in the morning hey guys hope you're all holding up well the guys from RT nationwide are just finished wrapping off basically doing a piece on how the Irish are sticking together at this difficult time and yeah I watch out for it it'll be out soon [Music] I'm eerily quiet for Grand Central Station well we've a quick break to take your on nationwide but when we come back we'll be going through the borough of Brooklyn to meet five young professionals who all live together and are now working from home together to find out how they are encouraging each other and helping each other through this and also an Irish musician who's using his music to uplift the community at this time this nationwide special from New York City continues after the break [Music] welcome back to this nationwide special coming to you from New York where we're meeting the Irish community across the city and talking to them about how they're getting through this coronavirus crisis together so we are going to do three to four days location to call our seniors just to check in and see how they're keeping and if they have developed any symptoms or if you need any air encircled freeze so I'm gonna just call Peggy Tunis night know Peggy has Gowanus Australian come from neighbor Center Ryan McNally works here at the New York Irish Center which caters for the elderly Irish community and he's making his way through a long list of people he has to call and Tricia would probably in one of the vulnerable categories and she does have an asthma and so we just want to keep a good eye on her Ryan normally on a day like today this place would be packed how many people would be in here yeah so our Wednesday lunch programs one of her largest programs we would have around 60 to 70 M on a busy day yeah there's a lot of crack a lot of laughter plenty going on usually on a Wednesday and so it's sort of sad to see it now empty and this really is a hub for the elderly Irish community here is endures for many of our seniors they've been with that Irish Center from the very beginning so this is not only like a community center but it's a home for the minutes for New York for being such a large city it's also can be a very lonely City hello Maureen how does it go on it's just rain from neighbours Center oh we haven't closed that long Maureen how are we when you're making all the phone calls so the elderly Ryan what are you struck by well first of all their gratitude that I even called a lot of them and maybe haven't heared from people for for a couple of days so even just that 5 min a conversation of how their day went and used anything else other than the coronavirus that was a big thing that people didn't want they didn't want to talk about it we want to talk about hi my life was going and what we've been doing here in the center and because we do have a great personal relationship with all of our seniors how are you feeling ready at the moment I'm sure but we're gonna get through this anyway and what we'll see each other very soon and take care and sure I'll probably be speaking to you in a couple of days time anyway and likewise Brady thank you very much what would you say Ryan to some of the Irish elderly here in New York if they're watching this because I know that many of them do watch RT here in New York and their televisions so if they're feeling understandably apprehensive and anxious at a time like this what would you say and we'll just firstly say that we're we're here for them and we're gonna be available for anything that goes our senior population needs and be that even though things do get worse and we've got procedures in place to be able to help them and we're still continue to her phone calls our check-ins and if things develop we're a team of volunteers who've made themselves available to to go out and do those errands and jobs that that they may not be able to do from the next couple of weeks or months so there's got to be support here for them exactly support and that's the main thing for them to know was that we're here and anything at all and but we can do that we will do lateral man slow down anymore in an apartment in Brooklyn Ashlin Kiera Richard and Jenny have transformed their small living room into a work office as a virtual login via zoom and have a drink they all live together and now are learning to work together as they were all told by their employers to work from home getting used to having more people working at home as well it's kind of been like the biggest thing we do what we can in a small tiny New York City apartment trying the most to keep a positive attitude I try not to you know get scary by reading the news all the scare mongering that's going on it's not going to do anyone any favors the situation isn't going to change it's beyond our control so we're just trying to keep positive here good days bad days um so you know some days you know you kind of become consumed by it and you know reading into all of it and then all the days you got to just get on with this and kind of you know pick each other up and so yeah to keep ourselves kind of sane and kind of retain some normality but like have a routine so get up in the morning we get dressed you come here and we work for a few hours and we have lunch and then normally like go for a walk in the nearby Domino Park because well restaurants and bars are closed and I have so like kind of going for walks or everyone's like our outlet Smasher I always call New York the disposable city I mean your job your apartments everything can be gotten you know very quickly so in that way it kind of just carry on as usual Jenny O'Leary is from Cork and has been here for two and a half years I'm scared grateful um petrified anxious but I think above all positive name I think every single error changes at the moment with us in New York especially with the five of us in this apartment someone's good then like we look at the news we look at social media we hear something we speaks people at home and it's just literally changing hour by hour like every day going back and forth should I just go home will I be safer at home or will I be safer here well I have my suitcases packed in my bedroom and I have you know money put aside for a flight and I'm like if anything triggers me I'm just going to go when you're thinking about it and the anxiety that it causes yeah how do you deal with that so I have about five or six different things that I've been doing and to try to cope so the first one is I think about what makes me happy the most honest my dogs in Ireland so there corgis and I just literally like local Corgi photos I have my corrugated ease I have my cord you get a stress ball and I just I just like it's okay like there's a mic or you say i'm amazon's number one call series recording session for no seriously thinking about things that make me happy at home really calm me down [Music] how do you make sense of it all Jenny like I know you and your housemates go for a walk down by beautiful Domino Park every evening and you're looking out at the beautiful skyline of Manhattan when you look at the city and you think of what we're going through at the moment I think how do you just analyze it because when you're down in Domino Park and you're standing there in Williamsburg and you're looking at across the most beautiful city and in the entire world anything about everything that you've achieved here and everything that you've went through you if you can make it here literally you can make it anywhere and I know that's so cliche but seriously you're like wow I'm here I'm living in New York and I'm gonna get through this I've gotten through everything in the last two-and-a-half years but all the things New York throw at you this is gonna be fine Jenny what's great talk [Music] back in Manhattan singer-songwriter Niall Connolly is on his way to his weekly gig in a wine bar called Stalin fly but tonight it's different as bar owner Nigel O'Callahan explains our team here really wants to do our part in trying to uplift a community and we're trying to bring light music as much as we can or any form of entertainment that we can and to people's homes so even though the wine bar must now be empty Nigel is broadcasting the performance live on Instagram as people watch with a glass of wine from their homes we live in boxes in boxes on boxes is a lane pressed for a little pride still I got door handles and curtains two rooms and three keys I come with time to believe these things necessity you born a cranes I come home later trade come home quit and in the morning we nod and smile in the corridors [Music] the days on the calendar inboxes aligned like these voices as labels around these high-rise we think we got it figured up based on our tape tell it get up come up and take us by surprise downstairs neighbors fight when a cold it is just let it go we not smile in the corridor what there's no doubt just like at home in Ireland things here in New York City are going to be difficult for the foreseeable future but what you've seen tonight on nationwide is just a glimpse of how the Irish community have been responding across the city yes it's going to be tough but they've been helping each other through it and will continue to do so we're all in this together so until next time thank you so much for watching and good night from New York City because we are [Music] and these mortgage boxes ma [Music] then there's sheetrock corridor [Music] and these corridors [Music] we live there boxes in boxes will go

Channel: Colm Flynn

Views: 3,798

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Id: wyQI4A1-TKU

Length: 22min 36sec (1356 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 25 2020