Support for Lee's Deli's Recovery in Philadelphia

On Sunday, November 20, a large U-Haul truck barreled into our small corner store at full speed. If you can imagine what a large U-Haul truck traveling at over 90 miles per hour would do if it entered a Wawa, you'll get an idea of what happened at Lee's Deli. The truck was traveling at such speed and crashed into the store with such force that it destroyed nearly everything inside and outside.

However, we are beyond grateful because no one was injured. We are so grateful because our neighbors and our community have been showering us with non-stop love, support, and encouragement as we cope with the tragic end of a chapter at Lee's Deli - but not the end of Lee's Deli.

Candidly, we were debating hard whether or not to set up a GoFundMe page because we felt down and discouraged about what happened to us, but over the last couple of days we kept on receiving encouragement and messages from friends, neighbors, and even strangers - all asking "how can I help?"

If you are reading this, what we would appreciate more than anything else in the world is for you to come by once we are reopen, say hello to us, and allow us to serve you again. It's been such a pleasure serving you all over the past 30 years, and we hope to continue to serve you for many more years to come as part of the West Philadelphia community.

Until then, if you have the means of any help, whether it is financial or non-financial, it would be so greatly appreciated, as we work hard with structural engineers, clean-up crews, construction teams, architects, equipment suppliers, vendors, electricians, utility companies, HVAC specialists, waste management, Philadelphia officials, and most of all our employees to try to reopen in the near-future and to support our employees at Lee's Deli while our doors are closed. Donations will be used to get Lee's Deli reopened as soon as possible. In addition, the deli is the only source of income for us and will help us - and our employees - until we are about to reopen.

I know we said on Instagram that we'll reopen soon after Thanksgiving, but, sadly, that is no longer possible based on the level of destruction and damages (a few pictures below). Unfortunately, we don't have a definitive timeline yet, but please know that we are working day and night to try to be there on the corner of 4700 Baltimore Avenue again as soon as possible. For now, we just want to simply say thank you for allowing us to serve such a special community since 1993 and be part of your lives.

Nothing that we've accomplished over the past 30 years, not a single thing, could have been possible without you. Thank you for being with us every single step of our 30 year journey.

To increase the impact of your support, The Merchants Fund will match all donations up to $15,000.

With love,

Scott and the Lee's Deli team