NY Hospitals, Police Get Free Dunkin' Thanks To Bravo TV Host

QUEENS, NY — A former Secret Service agent and current host of Bravo's TV show "Spy Games" is giving back to hospital workers and police officers in New York and New Jersey who are on the front lines of the new coronavirus outbreak. And she's doing it with donuts and coffee.

Evy Poumpouras, a Queens native who was born in Harlem, recently paid a visit to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Little Neck, bringing with her boxes of donuts and bags — yes, bags — of coffee for nurses and doctors. Having served on search and rescue missions after the Sept. 11 attacks in Manhattan, Poumpouras knows how much a small gesture of gratitude can mean to first responders.

"This whole thing is terrible," she told Patch. "But then you see these moments of where everyone is doing what they can. Like, 'What can I contribute?"

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Poumpouras, who went to Hofstra University and later Columbia for her masters degree, said small acts of kindness add up. First responders feel that appreciation, especially when they often have little time to find something to eat.

"They don't have time to take breaks, so bringing them something they have to grab and eat and have access to, I think is just helpful," she said.

When she was at Ground Zero, Poumpouras remembered someone wheeling around a McDonald's cart offering rescuers free chicken nuggets while they searched. The small gesture made her feel her efforts were appreciated.

With that in mind Poumpouras partnered with Dunkin' to show their appreciation to first responders dealing with COVID-19 patients.

Over the last couple weeks, Poumpouras has delivered hundreds of boxes of donuts and bags of coffee to seven police precincts in Newark, New Jersey; health care workers at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Mount Sinai Morningside in Manhattan. She also planned donations to Lawrence Hospital and to deliver Dunkin' products to all 77 NYPD precincts.

Poumpouras works to ensure the deliveries are coordinated around shift schedules. She wants night shift health care workers, for example to get some food and beverages along with the oncoming day side staff.

"The night shift staff, they can pick up stuff for the ride home; day side shift, they come in and they have stuff to pick up for when they start their day shift," she said.

To make the deliveries, Poudmpouras and her husband wakes up early in the morning, drives to a Dunkin' location near the hospital or precinct, picks up the donuts and coffee and then drops them off at a predetermined location, where she thanks people for their hard work.

Poumpouras, a former police officer herself, said she initially wanted to help law enforcement officers after seeing a staggering number of NYPD officers were out sick with COVID-19 diagnoses. Once hospitals started reaching out, she knew she had to expand the initiative to nurses and doctors, too.

"I know what it's like to be an essential worker and I know what it's like to be forgotten," she said. "Just something small like that can really make a difference."

The new coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 10,000 New Yorkers in the span of a few weeks and hospitalized countless others. Poumpouras, who has a new book coming out April 21 titled "Becoming Bulletproof," called the outbreak tragic, and said her way of dealing with hardship is to give back to others, noting she finds it therapeutic.

"Right now, we're taking from our first responders," she said. "We're taking from our police. We're taking, we're taking."

She wants to flip that equation, even if it means people do something small.

"How can I give? I feel that this in and of itself is the best therapy anybody can ever have."

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