5 Ways To Help Restaurants 6 Months After Hurricane Sandy Slideshow

Sunny’s Bar, Red Hook

Red Hook watering hole Sunny's Bar is prepping for a June reopening, but restoring the historic bar needs just a bit more funding for the final push. So the bar is launching a month of fundraising starting May 1, kicking it off with a fundraising party at the Bell House with acts like The Red Hook Ramblers, John Pinamonti, and more. Funds will go toward repairing the basement, and if all goes well, the bar may reopen at the end of June. Buy tickets for the fundraising concert here and keep an eye out on Indiegogo for their fundraising page.

Rebuild Battery Urban Farm, Battery Park

Education-focused Battery Urban Farm at the tip of Manhattan was flooded when Superstorm Sandy hit (not to mention their offices were completely destroyed), but since then they've rebuilt their farm. Still, the farm needs some support to keep their education programs, as they've already had requests to teach 1,500 students from 23 schools how grow produce in 2013 alone. The farm has reached less than half of its fundraising goal, with almost a month left in their Indiegogo campaign. Donations will pay for new worms for the lost compost system, pantry items to make salads and smoothies, a child's bike for an on-farm bike blender, and bare necessities to grow produce that will then be donated to school cafeterias, distributed in farm share programs, and donated to restaurants and soup kitchens.

Grindhaus, Red Hook

As previously reported here on The Daily Meal, Erin Norris built a restaurant from the ground up and was a few months away from opening when Hurricane Sandy hit. Now, she's trying once more, turning to Kickstarter to fund her second rebuild, and hopefully an opening. The fundraiser runs until May 4, and Norris is less than $2,000 away from her goal. Need more convincing? Norris promises food that "harken[s] back to a time, if you can, when a street-water dog was your sustenance, when a St. Mark's patty of soy with viscous orange adornment equated weekend success, and ALL you knew about noodles came from Italians... or out of a cup." Not sure what that means, but it sounds ambitious.

Veggie Island, Rockaways

The second annual Food Book Fair opens May 2 with a benefit to raise money for Veggie Island, a Rockaway Beach community hub that brought eco-friendly produce and products to the community. In addition to teaching gardening, cooking, and environmental awareness to community members, the organization is also helping to rebuild Rockaway Beach post-Sandy. Thus, the benefit, where you can mingle with cookbook authors and chefs while browsing books and eating bites from the cookbooks themselves. Expect Lauryn Chun from The Kimchi Cookbook, Nancy Singleton Hachisu from Japanese Farm Food, and plates from Delaney Barbecue and Northern Spy Food Co., not to mention brews from Brooklyn Brewery. Tickets available here.

Shore Soup Projects, Rockaways

The Shore Soup Project, launched by Shore Fruit, began as a tricycle and bicycle delivery service to bring homemade soups to some 800 Rockaway residents a day post-Sandy. Six months later, they're hoping to expand into a full-fledged pay-what-you-want restaurant (or at least a food truck), following the ambitious goals of pay-what-you-want Panera Breads and Jon Bon Jovi's Soul Kitchen. Sure, they've already reached more than their goal ($25,000), but it's a costly project, and there are four days left of fundraising.