Community Fundraises for Brooklyn Bike Patrol Founder's Medical Bills

Locals have started an online campaign to help an instrumental member of the community get back on his feet. 

Jay "Rocket" Ruiz is the founder of the Brooklyn Bike Patrol, an organization whose sole mission is to make sure the women of the borough make it home at night safely.

Ruiz, who is a 48-year-old dispatcher at a Manhattan bike messenger company by day, started Brooklyn Bike Patrol in 2011 to combat the spate of sexual assaults in Park Slope and South Slope by walking women from the subway to their homes safely.

Six nights a week, Ruiz and his fellow volunteer patrolmen leave their own neighborhood at any time of the night to meet someone and escort them home. The group covers 17 neighborhoods and 56 subway stops.   

Despite his daily exercise, which includes 100 pushups a day and riding 150 to 200 miles a week on his bike, Ruiz suffered two heart attacks—one on June 9 at 1 a.m. and the other in the middle of the day on June 10.

Ruiz was uninsured. 

To help Ruiz pay his medical bills, community member Ellen Baxt created online campaign "Medical bills for Jay Ruiz" ongofundme.com, a crowd sourcing and fundraising website reliant on donations by those interested in the campaign's mission.  

"If Jay has ever walked you, your friend, partner, sister or mother home at night, or if you support the work of Brooklyn Bike Patrol, or would simply like to help out our friend and neighbor, Jay, please contribute what you can," the campaign notes. "Jay is an outstanding civic caretaker, volunteering his time night after night and expecting nothing in return. In fact, he won't even accept tips. Let's show him our gratitude by covering his medical expenses."

As of press time, 29 donors had contributed $2,410 towards the campaign's $3,000 goal. The campaign does not have a closing date.