WK International Multiservices, located on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, received a complete makeover after being broken into and looted earlier this month.

Ricky Torres and Ryan Ehrlich, the owners of a Queens Painting and Renovation Company called PaintWorks NYC, decided to step in and help WK International and other plundered businesses at no charge. 

What You Need To Know


  • PaintWorksNYC wanted to help it's fellow small business owners that were looted.

  • They have repaired stores in the Bronx so far all out of pocket, costing them around $2,500.

  • They say being a business during the coronavirus was tough, but they wanted to be there for other businesses in the community.

  • They urge people to recommend businesses that need help by sending an email to info@paintworks.nyc.

"I got my dust pan and broom and just started picking up garbage,” said Torres. “Just to help out the business owners, I waited for them to get there, a couple of them I got their information and told them I was going to help them.”

PaintWorks posted a notice on Instagram urging people to recommend businesses in need.

"I wanted to let them know I am here for them, because I'm also a small business owner," Torres said.

Torres and Ehrlich estimate that they've helped a half dozen businesses so far, at a cost of more than $2,500.

"I just think if you do good things by people good things will come to you," Torres said.

These projects are being tackled while the company had to remake itself because of the pandemic. Three months ago it transitioned to offering disinfecting services. 

"There's that saying, ‘When you feel helpless, help others,’ and I think that's kind of what we started to do,” said PaintWorksNYC Co-Owner Ryan Erhlich. “If we didn't have a lot of jobs, we felt why not help out.”

Ehrlich and Torres say the business owners they help are thankful for the assistance.

"For us to show up and say, ‘We we're going to do this for them,’ they were shocked," Erhlich said. 

"I think people in the beginning were depressed and sad and at the end when everything was done you would see the smiles on their faces. They were so excited," Torres said.

If you know of a business that needs help recovering from looting you can send an email to info@paintworks.nyc.