|
 While Logan County is going to probably end up
being one of the very lucky counties with very few diagnosed cases,
and hopefully no deaths, every time one of these workers comes into
contact with a patient or would-be patient, it is running through
their minds that this is a person who could have the highly
contagious disease.
Whenever a first responder goes to an accident on the highway, there
is a chance that the people in the car could not only be injured but
also be infected. Every time a patient comes into the emergency room
for whatever reason, there is a chance that the virus could become a
factor.
For those healthcare workers, and first responders the risk of
contracting the virus, and worse yet, the risk of becoming a carrier
and spreading the virus has to be heavy on their minds. It has to be
a daily stress factor in their lives.
For our local businesses, the stress of what is happening to their
business during this time of sheltering in place has to also be a
big issue. Statistically, some small businesses will not be able to
recover from the forced temporary closures of small retailers and
reduced capabilities of small family owned restaurants.
For area eateries, carry out and delivery is still allowed, and most
are depending on that business to keep them going until they can
once again open up their dining areas. Community members are being
encouraged to continue to support those businesses, but for many of
our residents, money has become tighter than ever because they too
are not working.
In all, this is a recipe for disaster for the local economy.
However, there are people in our community who are working to help
both our local eateries and our local first responders. And what
they are doing is having some remarkable results.
In Mount Pulaski, Angie Cyrulik learned about a project called FLAG
2020 that was ongoing in the Decatur area. She considered the
project and what it was doing for the Decatur community, and decided
that it was a project that could possibly be implemented in Logan
County. So she took action, and has been amazed by the local
response.
FLAG is the “Front Line Appreciation Group.” It first started in
Chatham, New Jersey and was implemented by two working moms who felt
that the front line workers in their community needed to be shown
appreciation with more than just words. With New Jersey being hard
hit by the corona virus, they also saw that there were businesses in
their community that would cease to exist if someone didn’t do
something to help them out.
They put together a fundraiser and a plan. They would seek small
monetary donations from the community, pool the cash together and
then order carry out meals from local restaurants and deliver those
meals to local front line workers. The two were astonished when in
the first two weeks they raised more than $75,000 for their project.
Flossies delivered to
the Logan Count Dispatch
“We thought this was an amazing way to give back to
the community,” said Cyrulik. “So, we created FLAG 2020 - Lincoln,
IL. We started the group hoping to raise enough to send some meals
to the ALMH Emergency Department, but the community has been very
generous, so we are expanding to other places. So far we have
delivered to several departments at the hospital, doctor offices,
LCPA-paramedics, health department, Emergency Operations Center and
Dispatchers. We are currently scheduling deliveries for additional
hospital departments, police department, firefighters and
pharmacies.”
Cyrulik concluded, “I hope to continue and raise money so we can
deliver meals to more locations! All of the front line jobs are
important and even though we haven’t reached all locations yet, we
want them to know we are thankful for all they do!”
Cyrulik started by setting up a Facebook page and getting the word
out about what she wanted to do. She set up a means for folks to
make online donations, and provided her home address for those who
wanted to mail donations.
The Facebook page went live on April 8th, and in the first two hours
she had raised enough money to purchase 80 meals for frontline
workers. The first meals were delivered that same night. Cyrulik
ordered food from Sorrento’s Pizzeria and had it delivered to the
Emergency Department at ALMH.
By Thursday she had enough money for 160 meals and she arranged for
food deliveries from Chestnut Family Restaurant on Friday and the
Idle Hour in Lincoln on Saturday.
On Easter Sunday, the Chestnut restaurant donated an Easter meal
that was also delivered to the Emergency room staff at ALMH.
Peggy's Place
delivered to the Logan County Department of Public Health
In that first week, meals were ordered from Chances R, Mama’s
Arcade, Rio Grande, and Stuffed Aria Pizza to the Logan County
Paramedics, ALMH Acute Care staff, ALMH Plant Operations, Memorial
Behavioral Health, the Logan County Department of Public Health and
more.
Meals were also donated by local eatery owners such as Peggy’s Place
in Lincoln and Farmers Family Restaurant in Mount Pulaski. [to top of second
column] |
Delivery
to Springfield Clinic by Chubby's Bar and Grill
Food was purchased from Daphne’s for the Mental Health
Clinicians at Memorial Behavioral Health and from Chubby’s Bar
and Grill in Atlanta for staff at Springfield Clinic.
Guest House Coffee and Pastries delivered sweet treats to the
pharmacies in Lincoln on the 16th, and the Alley-Bi delivered
donated lunch on Tuesday, April 21st to the Laboratory staff at
ALMH. Others who have delivered food include
the Blue Dog Inn and Guzzardo’s in Lincoln, the Stag R Inn in Emden
and the Pizza Man in Mount Pulaski, and the list continues to grow
daily.
 On her Facebook page, Cyrulik posts
thank you notes to each and every donor and has posted a number of
photos of folks in the various departments receiving their
deliveries.
She is also adding links to the Facebook pages of all the eateries
that have participated thus far and encouraging followers to also
show their love to those places through purchases for their family
meals.
All in all, Cyrulik said that the response was much more than even
she could imagine. Her hope had been for a meal or two delivered to
ALMH, but with such a huge turnout she is happy to keep up the
project and provide as many meals as she has money for to those who
do their job daily with little expressed gratitude from the
community.
Additionally, she feels that this is a “win-win” project that is
helping to sustain our local eateries.
And helpers have come out of the woodwork. Logan County Fair Queen
Skye Kretzinger volunteered to bring food to Lincoln from Farmer’s
Restaurant. Local small business owner and administrator at Castle
Manor, Marcia Cook, delivered treats from Peggy’s Place to Memorial
Behavioral Health.
Chris and Amanda Doherty delivered the meal from Chestnut on Good
Friday. As they traveled to Lincoln it occurred to them that there
could be staff who were observing Lent and would not be able to eat
the food provided, so they swung in to Jimmy Johns when they got to
town and bought a bag of tuna fish subs for those staff members.
Cyrulik plans to keep the momentum of FLAG 2020 - Lincoln going as
long as she has donors, and from the looks of it, that will be quite
a while. She is also looking to reach out to more and more
restaurants and asks that if any restaurant wants to be a part of
the project they can contact her through her Facebook page.
This has been a great movement in our community and sets an example
of how one person can set the wheels in motion and then watch it
gain momentum and blossom into something that involves the entire
community.
If you want to get involved, the best place to start is on
FLAG 2020
– Lincoln, IL Facebook page. We encourage you all to log into
the page, read the comments from the workers who have received food,
look at the number of people who have donated and the see for
yourself the magnitude of the impact this is having. You don’t have
to donate a lot, that is the whole idea, a little bit from everyone
will add up to something big.
We thank Angie for doing this for all our local front-liners and
local restaurants. More than likely in their eyes and definitely in
ours, she is a hero in her own right.
[Nila Smith] |
