Support St Anselm Staff After Devastating Fire

St Anselm restaurant in Williamsburg suffered a terrible fire in the early morning hours of 9/11/24. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire.

St Anselm is a long-time neighborhood staple serving locals in Williamsburg since 2010. It is a warm, unpretentious and consistently delicious restaurant thanks to its staff - many of whom stay and work here for years. Historically staffed by a predominantly female kitchen crew, St Anselm has always pushed the boundaries of what qualifies as a classic NY steakhouse. It is homey, affordable, familiar and accessible. It is a beloved place for neighborhood locals as well as many restaurant professionals - both those that have worked there and those that enjoy visiting regularly.

Dinner service had finished and the guests and staff had headed home Tuesday night. The fire, which started in the basement, was spotted by the overnight porters entering the building to do their after hours nightly cleaning. These wonderful hard working employees called for help and the fire was under control within an hour. They were right on time to save the building and leave St Anselm repairable for everyone to someday come back to work, to eat, to be together.

Most importantly, everyone is safe and thankfully material things can be rebuilt but in this time of need, the wonderful people that make up the St Anselm staff who rely on hourly wages and tips are left with no hours… and no tips.

31 people woke up Wednesday morning with no job. Overnight their livelihood was gone. The staff have been told it will likely take months to repair and rebuild. Non-salaried employees were given a severance of one week and are able to file for unemployment. As we all know, this will unfortunately not cover their bills and in the interim, these workers have to find new paths of income.

Please donate to this gofundme to help the staff pay their rent and bills. It is absolutely not news that restaurant workers, particularly kitchen workers, are severely underpaid - these folks will be in trouble not months from now, but in weeks. The industry does not allow for cushy savings or retirement accounts. The funds raised here will be given directly to the non-salaried staff. They will be divided appropriately amongst full and part time staff.

Please donate whatever you can - every dollar counts - to keep these folks safe and healthy while everyone navigates their next steps. Thank you!

This go fund me is organized by a former employee.

The fundraiser team includes current members of staff.

All funds will be transferred directly to the staff and all funds will be distributed amongst current staff members only.