Apron from Nino's Restaurant
Description: This apron is covered with uniform patches from grateful patrons of Nino's restaurant, a relief center for World Trade Center recovery workers.

Context: Many Americans looked for ways to help after the September 11 attacks. One New York City businessman, Antonio Nino Vendome, turned his family restaurant into a relief center. Staffed by volunteers and supported largely by donations, Nino’s served hundreds of thousands of free meals twenty-four hours a day to firefighters, police officers, Red Cross workers, and others at the World Trade Center site. For many, Nino’s became a refuge, a place to find companionship and support as well as a meal. Many of the workers left their organizational patches as tokens of thanks, which Nino attached to kitchen aprons and hung on the wall.

	Nino’s restaurant Messages and gifts of support crowd the walls at Nino’s restaurant.
	Nino Vendome and his mother Nino Vendome and his mother in front of the bar at Nino’s restaurant, with patch-covered aprons and cards from well-wishers behind them.
	Nino’s leaflet A leaflet pays tribute to the rescue and recovery workers served at Nino’s restaurant.
	Restauranteur and philanthropist Antonio Nino Vendome
	Excerpt of interview with Nino Vendome “We’ve made a commitment to keep our doors open until our city is rebuilt, healed and up-and-running. To that end, we created the Nino’s Restaurant 9/11 Fund, a non-profit corporation operated exclusively as a relief center that feeds and comforts rescue [...]
	Brochure for Nino's America's Kitchen As the Trade Center clean-up work neared completion, Nino’s was converted from a feeding center for site workers back to a regular restaurant. Decorated with memorabilia from rescue workers and inspirational messages from the general public, it was hoped [...]
	"...his restaurant was cranking, 24 hours a day, every day of the week with volunteer workers and donated food..." David Shayt September 11 Collecting Curator. Museum Specialist, Division of Cultural History

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