Jay Leno lives 3,000 miles away — but part of his spirit resides in the heart of Brooklyn.
Over the past 12 years, the former “Tonight Show” host has quietly donated more than $1 million to Bailey’s Café, an intergenerational community arts and education program in Bed-Stuy.
“What they do is provide a lot of services, taking kids in the community and teaming them up with older people, ” says Leno, 66. “Kids that don’t have grandparents, [the older people] teach them how to cook, and the kids teach [the older people] how to work with computers.
“It’s just a nice little thing — like Mayberry in the middle of New York City.”
Leno’s connection to Bailey’s Café (BaileysCafe.org) runs deeper than financial support: He’s been friends with the program’s founder, Stefanie Siegel, since their days in Boston (Leno attended Emerson College; Siegel lived across the street).
“He’s been a lifesaver,” says Siegel, who started Bailey’s Café while teaching English at Brooklyn’s Paul Robeson HS. “Jay’s ability to support us and talk about us . . . has broadened our exposure. He’s really kept us alive.”
Leno says the money he’s donated “comes directly from me, and not some ‘foundation’ — there’s none of the creepy crap that always happens with those things.
“I just did an episode of [Spike TV’s] ‘Lip Sync Battle,’ and you get to give $10,000 to a charity. I gave it to Bailey’s.”
https://nypost.com/2016/09/22/jay-leno-has-quietly-kept-this-nyc-kids-charity-alive/