Koby Rosenbaum
In college, I applied to become a Ringling Brothers clown. I made it through the auditions but decided that getting disowned by my family was probably not a good idea. And so I stayed in college instead of running off with a circus. I regretted that for years and years, until I became a Freemason and subsequently a Shriner. And one of the units in a Shriner organization is a clown unit. So I inquired about it, since I've always been interested in the philanthropy of the Shriners Hospitals for Children.
The Aleppo Shrine Clowns raise a lot of money for the medical transportation fund, to bring kids from all around the world to a hospital. We've had kids from Ukraine, a couple of kids right now from Gaza. We primarily take care of burns, which is a very specialized field. If a child needs to be Medavacked, we arrange that. You wouldn't believe what a medical transport costs. And these kids, their families have very few options. But there is no charge to the family. Not being a doctor or a scientist, clowning made more sense as a way for me to help.
No matter where I am, I love making people laugh. And when I got here behind the register here at the Buttery, I decided, I'm going to make these people laugh. Every day, I'm horsing around. Around Halloween, I come in here as Chef Yiddle. I have the poofy hat and I have a white coat and the makeup and all that stuff. It's fun and it makes people laugh. My philosophy is that when people come to The Buttery, they're coming to get away from their office, to get away from the stress, and just to be in a different environment. And if it's all serious, you know, you're not really getting a break. So I try to facilitate that. I always say we get paid in smiles.