В честь погибшего волонтера в Хобокене переименовали кухню общественного питания

Jericho native Jonathan “Johnny” Ellis, who died suddenly in April at 28, has been memorialized by the Chabad Young Professionals of Hoboken & Jersey City after the organization renamed its volunteer kitchen to Johnny’s Giving Kitchen. The organization celebrated Ellis’ life, his love of cooking meals for people facing food insecurity, and announced the kitchen’s new name during a volunteer event on Aug. 9. Before his death, Ellis lived in Jersey City and had been part of Chabad Young Professionals, where he was a leading committee member at the organization’s Giving Kitchen. He worked as a senior underwriter at Everest and graduated from Jericho High School in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. The community service initiative prepares and packages meals for Hudson County residents facing food insecurity and for residents of the Hoboken Shelter. The inauguration of the newly named kitchen brought dozens together, Chabad Young Professionals said, and got more than 100 homemade meals packaged. “Johnny had a remarkable way of bringing people together and inspiring those around him to care for others,” said Rabbi Shmully Levitin of Chabad Young Professionals of Hoboken & Jersey City. The event was held as part of CYPcares, the organization’s community service initiative. The newly named kitchen has since built on the Giving Kitchen program, Chabad Young Professionals said, and will allow volunteers to continue giving back to the community and to celebrate the life of one of its members. “Johnny’s Giving Kitchen allows us to honor his memory in a way that reflects who he was, by turning compassion into action,” Levitin said. “Seeing so many young professionals come together to prepare meals for our neighbors was incredibly meaningful, and we know that every meal served carries a little piece of Johnny’s generous spirit with it.” The organization said it plans to continue creating opportunities for young professionals to serve the Jersey City and Hoboken community and continue remembering Ellis. “There was something really special about coming together not only to prepare meals for people in our community who need them, but to celebrate Johnny and what he meant to so many of us,” Jake Freedman said, a Johnny’s Giving Kitchen participant. “You could feel that sense of connection throughout the day. It reminded us that even a simple act like cooking a meal can make a difference, especially when a community comes together to do it.” Ellis’ cause of death has not been announced publicly, but the Chabad Young Professionals of Hoboken & Jersey City community has continued to memorialize his life through other opportunities, including hosting a five-week Torah learning fellowship for him. “If you told me we’d get here because of Johnny, I would have believed you,” Phil Beylison, a close friend of Ellis, said in a social media post. “But I would have never guessed it would be because Johnny’s no longer with us.”