Like so many restaurant openings that have been put on pause by the pandemic, The Acre in Ridgewood, Queens, has been left in limbo. But in the meantime, owners Colleen and Ian Bock are putting their time to good use by helping launch a raffle with other local businesses to support the Black Lives Matter movement—though they emphasize that they don't want the focus to be on them, but rather the important cause at hand.
Each ticket to the raffle costs $5 dollars (Venmo @ColleenAtTheAcre) and 100% of ticket sales will go to the organization—but you’re welcomed to buy more than one ticket. Collaborating businesses include Forêt Wines (one of our favorite natural wine bottle shops), Porcelain (which we reviewed), Topos Bookstore (one of our favorite hybrid coffee-bookstores), Feels (a newish vintage store), Sundown Bar (a beloved lowkey bar) and Trans Pecos (a popular music venue), amongst many others and more being added every day. Some items include cocktail vouchers, candles, gift certificates, cinnamon sweet potato rolls, greeting cards and more.
The Acre tells Time Out New York that they have already surpassed raising $10,000 through the efforts. But you can still keep it going by entering until 11:59PM on Sunday.
The winners for the raffle will be announced on Monday and while anyone can purchase a raffle, the recipient of a prizes must live within the five boroughs. The team behind Dank Brooklyn—a local vegan banana bread company—has offered up its delivery personnel to do contactless deliveries to the winners. In the meantime, any businesses interested in sponsoring can email a JPEG of its logo and a description of the donation to colleen@theacreridgewood.com.