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10.22.2020
We would be remiss to celebrate our COVID Heroes without celebrating those who did so much to provide our community with lifesaving personal protective equipment – Amy Boyle and Michael Rosen. Amy and Michael worked tirelessly to creatively handle logistics, solve problems, and ultimately distribute over six million articles of PPE to our supportive housing community.
Our providers were in dire need of PPE when Deputy Mayor Vicki Been connected the Network with Amy Boyle, Senior Advisor for Housing at City Hall. Amy made herself available to the Network at all hours of the day, working with staff members to identify what kind of equipment our member agencies needed, which agencies needed it, and how much equipment they needed. Not only that, she provided the PPE, authorizing countless shipments from the City in order to protect our community.
Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development Vicki Been expressed her gratitude for Amy’s calm competence and hard work on behalf of the people of the city. She said, “Thank you, Amy, for all you’ve done to keep New Yorkers safe. In a crisis, you really need people who can get things done. You are so effective, so compassionate, Michael Rosen & Amy Boyle Breaking Ground Office of the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development and most of all, you care deeply about getting New Yorkers the things they deserve.”
The Network then partnered with Michael Rosen, Vice President of Asset Management at Breaking Ground, to find a location to store the PPE. Michael generously offered up a Breaking Ground-owned building at 90 Sands Street, a forthcoming development that will yield hundreds of supportive housing units but was not yet under construction. He also devised the means by which the PPE would be distributed - he and his team at 90 Sands set aside three mornings a week to literally do the heavy lifting.
Lorenzo Torres, Assistant Vice President of Facilities Operations and Asset Management at Breaking Ground, described how Michael jumped at the opportunity to be of service to the supportive housing community. He said, “When the opportunity presented itself to help our supportive housing colleagues during this COVID crisis, you jumped right in. You centralized the PPE distribution process by communicating with your counterparts, accepting deliveries throughout the day, arriving at 90 Sands early in the morning, all the while maintaining a smile on your face. You give so much of yourself so selflessly every day.”
In the end, Amy and Michael have procured and delivered six million masks, 700 thousand pairs of gloves, and 200 cases of hand sanitizer for our providers and their tenants. For all they have done to keep our community safe, we are thrilled to honor Amy and Michael as COVID Heroes.