Hello, hey, how are you, Joe?
They say it's your birthday because it was your birthday a couple of days ago, Saturday. Yes, and so it's your birth week, and so as long as it's your birth week, it still counts. I'm a big birth week fan, by the way. Joe Baratta, you and I know each other from the New York City Rescue Mission back in the day. You're New York City or Long Island? Where are you?
Currently, I live in Rockland County. My office is in Westchester, but I'm from Jackson Heights, Queens, originally.
So you're a Queens guy. What do you consider yourself?
Socially, I would just say a New Yorker. That way I'm all over the place.
I started working at the New York City Rescue Mission in '03, stopped in '13. What's the earliest that you had any interaction with the New York City Rescue Mission?
Somewhere in the 1990s, early, late 1990s.
How did you know about New York City Rescue Mission?
I saw an ad in the paper. I was a new Christian in 1995, and I just wanted to tithe somewhere. I didn't belong to any church, you know, and so I just wanted to tithe somewhere. I just saw a little ad somewhere about feeding homeless people, and I mailed them like 50 bucks back then. And then as I started to do better, it was just a great resource to send money to.
And when did you first visit the New York City Rescue Mission?
When I met you, that was my first visit, yeah.
Take a wild guess. Was it '04, '05, '06, or '07?
I would think probably '04, something like that, yeah.
You were early on there, too. And you brought clothing. What did you bring? Do you recall?
I don't remember. I think I just came to visit. And what was his name? The old gentleman, Jim Vagen?
Jim Vagen, right. And we had lunch together, and you showed me the place, and the three of us had lunch. And it was strictly a visit. It was like, 'Hey, just come on down.' And then I came back with my girls. We volunteered a couple times for Thanksgiving after that.
And you brought your wife at least once.
I brought my wife once and my mother-in-law. We used to do a clothing drive. I would go to Walmart and just go buy, like, I don't know, five dozen pairs of jeans and stuff and just drop them off. She'd sit in the car so I wouldn't have to go find a parking spot.
So you would buy new clothes?
Yeah, brand new clothes. Brand new, right. Just go to Walmart, just go buy a whole stack of jeans and t-shirts and socks and just drop them off.
Joe, I want to be you when I grow up, if you don't mind.
It's okay. I'm older than you anyway, so you heard it. I can be Joe Baratta when I grow up. What did you do for your birthday on Saturday?
I went to Atlantic City with my wife and had dinner. Saturday was my birthday. My girls, I didn't want them to change their plans. I have three daughters, so I didn't want them to change their plans. So we just figured we'd assemble on Sunday. So Friday night, my wife and I just went away just for one night. It was pretty good. We had a dinner and went to see the band America.
You saw America? Yeah, there's only one guy left, the actual lead singer. Everybody, one guy died and two guys retired. But the band was fantastic, and it was really fun, yeah.
I went with a friend in Youngstown to go see a tribute band Saturday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana, called Brooklyn Charmers. A tribute band paying tribute, the whole show was Steely Dan.
No kidding. And it begs the question, you know, America, as long as they have that lead singer still, they're America, aren't they?
Right. The band was really good, but without him, it would have been a no-show.
He's old in the tooth, though, isn't he?
Yeah, he looks great, though. He looks really great. The main guy, I think his name is Gerry Beckley or something. I'm an America fan, and he was born in England, believe it or not. No accent. Came here, went to high school in London, and then came here. And you would never know when he talks that he isn't an American-born.
I wonder if he had an accent back in the day.
