UNCLE LEROYS SIDEWALK SALE
Can you tell us about what seeded the idea of starting the sidewalk sale and what was the most daunting part of organizing it?
On a gloomy day I met with friends Perry Goodman and Sachiko Clyde in Mcgolrick Park to just sit down and talk. The world was turning and as a black man personally I was just fed up. Tired, conflicted and angry. We just looked at each other in disbelief and knew we had to do something about it. Protesting was one thing for us and we were very active marching in the streets during this time however we wanted to do something impactful. So I turned to them and said “how about we have a sidewalk sale”? We can just sell our clothing and raise money and donate it somewhere a non profit or gofundme something that reflects activism but engaging others who are lost, have no idea on where to put their money and give them a good reason to contribute to the cause. So that was the ground idea of it all. Walking away from them after this was all discussed I thought to myself, “wow what if this really happens, whats going to come from all of this”? Sachiko sent me a text asking if we were going to do it for that following sunday and from there I decided to jump on promoting via word of mouth and with a video thanks for the help of my roommate and really reaching out to others who could help us make this happen. Nothing has been daunting from this experience, its more of a rebirth of life, seeing people come together, people so happy, people just enjoying themselves and walking away with something and at the same time contributing to the cause. The only worry was just the cops or someone calling in for a complaint.
Your sidewalk sales have raised money for many organizations like DoorNYC, Building Black Bedstuy, and Justice for Elijah McClain. However, some of these also include organizations specifically focused on the works of non-profit’s backed by or for Black women. How do you go about selecting these organizations when there are so many places to work with?
The idea of it all is to reach out to something that is long term, focusing on rebuilding or stabilizing our community because sadly we do not have that.
So we feel it is best to circulate our dollar within these nonprofits that really put back into our community and will continue to do so down the line. However things pop up every single day and it just hits us like whoa, we need to draw our focus here such as brother Elijah. Right now we are shifting part of our focus to Lebanon but we will still continue to fight for our community and our people. My good friend Stephen Ostrowski always has amazing ideas and suggestions as far as where to donate. And we are doing these sales biweekly so come the following week I'm doing research on where we would like to donate in the future. We are also trying to look out for businesses being affected by this pandemic, surprising them with the cash we've raised and handing it over as a more “domestic community” donation.
You’ve been advertising these sales with iconic Uncle Leroy videos decorated with the “as seen on TV” stickers and hilarious car dealership commercial vibe we grew up on. What struck you with this vision for reaching out to the community?
Haha, glad you find Leroy funny. It's always so much pressure! When we decided to do this sale I personally thought to myself I have to make this commercial. I asked my roommate if he could help which he gladly agreed to do. We really didn't have anything in mind other than to promote it as a classic “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY” clearance sale type of commercial. Honestly i just sat in front of his iphone in our backyard he said action and i just started going for it haha. He would ask me to do a few things and I went along with it and then he pieced it all together into this low budget masterpiece! Now we are having discussions in our kitchen about what the next one should be haha, it's hilarious, almost as if we have a show or something. But it's been a lot of fun filming these videos and I want to shout out Andrew Price for all of the help.
The most recent sidewalk sale you did was to raise money for your sister and the baby she’s expecting. You raised over $25,000 in five hours which must have felt amazing to see the community pull together for each other. How did your sister respond to these efforts in light of mourning her partner?
My sister was very impressed, very thankful and honestly from the jump she told me she wanted me to focus on raising money for our people and for the communities and the cause and the mission we set out to help. She felt that she was in a good place and very blessed with the money that was raised prior thanks to help of her best friend setting up the gofundme. But when I FaceTimed her to tell her how much we raised she cried a bit haha and she was also in school. She is currently finishing up her last year in nursing school. Top of her class with a 4.0 and is going to finish for herself the baby and her husband Mike, my brother in law. I love you Mike and Chrissy.
What are the challenges and rewards of being a Black man taking on the weight of fundraising for BLM organizations and inadvertently becoming one of the many faces in the community part of leading an initiative?
The main challenge is trying to get back to everyone! Haha i've been busy with this and it has been a blessing. I'm not mad at it and so many people want to sell, contribute, help and it's so beautiful but sometimes I simply cannot get back to everyone. But I will try my best. Staying focused, sometimes I have anxiety over this because I've never done this before! So to calm myself down I spoke to my grandfather who passed on the 1st. He was a strong community leader who opened up a bbq business in south central LA back in 74 and his mission was to give us something so we can work for ourselves and never the white man. So I speak to him, I ask him to provide me with the strength he has and that I need. I also listen to Bob Marley in times of doubt with this, everything he stood for his message really calls to me so aside with my grandfather i try to channel brother Bob. Another challenge is just trying to keep shit cool and calm and a white eastern european neighborhood where most of these residents do not know any black people whatsoever. So that is always a biweekly fear, but they come shop, they do their thing they don't ask questions and they sure as hell don't know they are contributing to our cause! Haha. I would say the reward of this all is bringing a community together, like actually seeing people pull through to make a difference in our world. New friendships are happening. The energy is so high and when I sit back and see that my team and I did this I just think to myself wow, this is some amazing shit going on right here.
How can those who are not financially able support your initiative in fundraising be of assistance to your efforts? I.e. can they donate items, aid with logistics, etc?
I encourage those and everyone to donate clothing, if you can pitch in a $5 hey that helps. Anything helps, if you are inspired and do know where to start, get your friends together, pick a place and do this in your neighborhood. If you cannot get that going to sell something online, there are so many ways to where you can utilize the internet, social media, word of mouth or creatively and make some and donate.
And it doesn't have to be this insane amount because anything counts and it's all done with love if your heart is in the right place.
When can we expect the next sidewalk sale?
Next sidewalk sales, I hope the peaceful vibe and energy keeps fueling the justice train. We are definitely trying to get more women of color involved as far as vendors. But as far as expectations i tend not to have any because if you do you are setting yourself up for a possible let down and we don't need that! Haha. Thank you for allowing me to do this, much love. Shout out to my team: Perry, Sachiko, Lylynn, Andrew, Max, Ian, Angel, Hurley, Paul Coots, Drew, Brandon, Camilla, Dylan, Stephen & Tyler, none of this would have happened without your constant help and support. I love you guys.
Follow Aaron Wiggs here for more updates on upcoming sidewalk sales!
