When Ivette Medina-Stephenson came in for her shift at Yale-New Haven Hospital on Friday, March 27, she encountered a bevy of visibly shaken doctors and nurses. They had been treating a 25-year-old waitress who had allegedly been assaulted and raped by a co-worker from Temple Grille whom she had given a ride home. He allegedly tried to kill her before leaving her in East Rock Park.
As a nurse, Medina-Stephenson (pictured) empathized with the caregivers. Thinking back to her time as a waitress and how often she had given rides home to her coworkers, Medina-Stephenson felt a connection with the victim, whom she has never met, and knew she had to do something to help her.
Medina-Stephenson and her friend Lisa Votto began putting together “An Act Of Kindness,” a one-day fundraiser for the victim. On May 1, waitstaff and bartenders at a growing number of local restaurants will be donating 20 percent of their tips to the victim’s family, to help aid her recovery.
Medina-Stephenson’s efforts have tapped into a wellspring of generosity, as more and more restaurants sign on, from as far away as Hartford and Woodbridge.
Meanwhile, the alleged perpetrator of the assault, appeared in New Haven court for the first time on Tuesday morning. His case had been transferred to New Haven from Meriden. He was appointed a public defender in a hearing in front of Judge Richard Damiani, at the New Haven Superior Court on Church Street.
Jose Angel Moreno-Hernandez has entered a plea of not guilty to six felony and one misdemeanor charges related to the alleged sexual assault and attempted murder. (See Register story here.)
Wearing shackles, lace-less Adidas sneakers, and an oversized orange jumpsuit, Moreno-Hernandez appeared in Courtroom 6A. As the judge addressed the defendant, the mother of the victim, one of several family members in the courtroom, sobbed violently and was held tightly by another woman. An interpreter spoke into Moreno-Hernandez’s ear as the judge appointed a public defender — Attorney Tejas Bhatt — and set a date of May 15th for the next pre-trial hearing.
Two hours later, at Eli’s on Whitney Restaurant on Hamden, Ivette Medina-Stephenson and Lisa Votto (at left in photo) were coordinating their efforts to put together the fundraiser, deciding who was going to call whom. Votto and Medina-Stephenson are former coworkers at Eli’s, where Votto still serves as a sales manager and bartender.
“We’re trying to round up the troops,” Votto said. “Everyone just wants to help.” Votto had just heard that the USS Chowder Pot, a Hartford restaurant, wants to participate in the fundraiser.
Votto and Medina-Stephenson have enlisted over 20 restaurants to participate in the May 1 event, and the number keeps growing. (Facebook users can see the full list of participants here.) Some restaurants, like New Haven’s Caseus and Bespoke, have agreed to match whatever donations their servers make.
The two women said that money is coming in already, as people hear about the cause. Some of the regulars at Eli’s have started donating. “One guy said, ‘here’s a $100 check for the girl,’” Votto said. Another customer left an extra $15 on a take-out order, saying it was for the victim. (Online donations are being collected here.)
Medina-Stephenson (pictured) said that she doesn’t have a goal of how much money she wants to raise. Nor is she placing any stipulations on how the money should be used by the victim. The money is simply for “recovery, in all aspects of the word,” she said.
Medina-Stephenson said she has been motivated by the thought that a simple act of kindness — offering a co-worker a ride home — seems to have altered the young woman’s life forever.
“She was doing something very kind,” Medina-Stephenson said. “It turned out to be the one event that changed her life.”
Medina-Stephenson thought back to her days as a waitress, when she used to give rides home to her co-workers. “I’ve taken dishwashers home into Fair Haven… without even second guessing,” she said.
“I happen to know some of the doctors” that treated the victim, Medina-Stephenson said. “They were horrified… it was so heinous.”
“These are doctors that see quite a bit,” Medina-Stephenson said. She remembers one doctor in particular, whose face showed that she was shaken up. “It was just her face… I knew this was a very moving experience.”
Medina-Stephenson said that the hospital staff were talking about it all weekend. “They just couldn’t get it out of their heads,” she said. The striking thing about the incident, Medina-Stephenson said, was not only the brutality of the assault, but the idea that it was perpetrated by someone the victim knew. “You think you know someone, and then you don’t,” she said.
“I just put myself in that situation,” Medina-Stephenson said. “I’ve had close relationships with the dishwashers and busboys… How do you trust your own judgment next time?”
Medina-Stephenson said that she had, in a small way, experienced that destruction of trust. She related the story of a mugging that she experienced in Waterbury, 20 years ago. At 8:10 one morning, a man on the sidewalk grabbed her from behind, dragged her into an alley, and took her gold necklace. Because of the experience, Medina-Stephenson said, there was a long period when she couldn’t wear jewelry in public. Even when her now husband gave her an engagement ring, she used to cross her arms to conceal it.
Medina-Stephenson said that the victim, whom she has never met, is on her mind constantly. “She remains faceless and nameless to us,” she said. “I think about her everyday.”
“I’m hoping this [fundraiser] shows her that people do care,” Medina-Stephenson said.
We should have more people like you to take charge and have these fund-raisers to help her I am sure that everyone will come out including myself to donate to her fund. No one should ever have to endure such a hateful act of what he did to her LIFE FOR HIM OR DEPORT HIM.