Deodoro Monge Gutierrez and Pedro Sanchez (GoFundMe)
May 12, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
The Woodside/Sunnyside community is coming together to raise funds for the families of two well-known restaurant workers who lost their lives to COVID-19 last month.
Deodoro Monge Gutierrez, the owner and chef of Bliss 46 Bistro in Sunnyside, and Pedro Sanchez, a long time staff member at the Woodside Cafe, died within two days of each other last month. Both men were popular and respected members of the community.
GoFundMe pages have been set up to help both men’s families cope with the financial burden stemming from their death.
Gutierrez had operated his restaurant at 43-46 46th St. since 2011 and it had become a favorite for many locals who sought French food. He passed away from complications with COVID-19 on April 21.
His family launched a GoFundMe page Monday and are looking to raise $20,000. The community has already donated more than $4,000 in less than 24 hours.
The contributions will go toward covering medical and funeral costs, his family wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Gutierrez was treated at Elmhurst Hospital for three weeks before he died. His body was cremated and the family plan to hold a memorial service in Mexico later this year. They hope to bury his ashes alongside his parents.
Gutierrez’s daughter, Melissa Monge, wrote on the GoFundMe page that the family is in need of the funds since the restaurant has been closed due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
“With our restaurant shuttered, and our family broken by my dad’s loss, we are emotionally overwhelmed and financially drained,” she wrote.
On April 23, Pedro Sanchez lost his battle with COVID-19 after being hospitalized with the virus in early March.
Sanchez was a familiar face to patrons of Woodside Café, located at 60-06 Woodside Ave., where he served up food and drinks.
He was known as a kind, hardworking man and his employer set up a GoFundMe page for his family on April 27. They aimed to raise $20,000 to offer financial relief to his wife and three sons.
The donations have poured in and within 24 hours more than $15,000 was raised. To date about $27,000 has been collected for his family.
Sanchez was buried on May 6 and the contributions will go toward paying for a proper funeral once the New York City allows large gatherings to resume.
Those wishing to donate to the family of Deodoro Monge Gutierrez can do so by clicking this link and those looking to donate to the family of Pedro Sanchez can click here.
If you know of residents or community members who passed away due to COVID-19 and should be memorialized, please leave a comment below or email us at news@queenspost.com.
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7 Comments
The Bliss 46 Bistro is BACK!!! Open for take out as of Tuesday! Very happy about this!
Rest In Peace
To Linda: Bliss 46 Bistro has been shuttered for some time. No take out or delivery. Very sad to see that the owner passed. It was a nice little spot in the neighborhood.
President Trump has unveiled Guidelines for Opening Up America Again, a three-phased approach based on the advice of public health experts. These steps will help state and local officials when reopening their economies, getting people back to work, and continuing to protect American lives. Thank you Mr. President…now you can concentrate on putting the criminal gang led by Obama in prison for their attempted coup of our democracy…Hallelujah
RIP these two gentlemen. They need to investigate these cases better, food industry workers are dying at alarming rate, I thought take-out was supposed to avoid spread of germs. If NYC put a mandated curfew and did not allow anyone to go outside for 2 weeks, sick people wouldn’t be wandering around infecting hard working Americans.
Also did they have pre-existing conditions?
Be safe everyone, listen to your gut feeling, not the crazies on the internet.
Trump is telling millions of American to “LIBERATE!” themselves from quarantine.
Are you saying that’s a bad idea?!
Wow. So sad. Bliss 46 Bistro is still open for take out and delivery. Support them. I hope the workers all been tested.