Resource 1 Supports Family-Owned Restaurant Sip Barrington in Donating Daily Meals to Hospital Workers
Beginning as early as mid-March, the coronavirus pandemic has pushed everyone to adjust to a “new norm.” For some people, this means acclimating to work-from-home life while juggling childcare. For children, school has been replaced with eLearning and play dates are held over Zoom. For local business owner, TammyLynn Brewer, and her family, life has consisted of long hours in the kitchen at their family-owned and operated restaurant, Sip Barrington. Together, they happily prepare and deliver meals free of charge to local heroes in the ER at Barrington’s Good Shepherd Hospital.
While life has taken a slower pace for many people, healthcare workers in hospitals are faced with an overwhelming number of patients, along with extremely long hours, and a dwindling supply of protective equipment. During these difficult times, the Brewer family jumped at the opportunity to give back in the way they knew how, by providing homemade meals to doctors and nurses throughout their long shifts.
“As a mother to 10 spirited children, my family has a close relationship with the ER staff down at Good Shepherd,” TammyLynn joked. “My family and I knew we had to give back to our community in some way during this trying time and donating meals through our family-owned restaurant was the perfect way to do so.”
To support as many healthcare workers as possible, the Brewer family created a GoFundMe for those interested in sponsoring a meal. When people donate to Sip Barrington’s campaign, 100% of the donation goes towards the cost of the meals, and a little bit goes a long way. A donation of $25 is enough to fund 4-6 meals! After learning about the campaign from their Senior Account Manager (and current Sip Barrington partner), Steve Clodfelter, Resource 1 was honored to support the Brewer family’s mission through a $500 donation.
“While we are all united in solidarity during this time, the truth is that some people are currently facing challenges that are hard to comprehend,” said President of Resource 1, Anastasia Valentine. “It is on all of us to reach out and give back to those who truly need it most, like our healthcare heroes. We hope that our donation helps them feel supported as they work tirelessly to support all of us.”
After Sip Barrington closes around 9 p.m., the Brewer family gets right to work cooking lunch and dinner for Good Shepherd’s third-shift ER team of about 24-28 people.
“We provide meals to the third-shift team specifically because we’ve noticed they don’t get the same amount of attention from other donors that the day-time workers do,” TammyLynn explained. “My older kids and I cook and deliver meals until one in the morning to make sure these folks are taken care of while they’re out there saving lives. For Easter, we made sure to cook them a proper Easter dinner so things could feel a little more normal for them.”
So far, Sip Barrington has been able to deliver seven individually packaged meals a week (four dinners and three lunches) for 30 people. This has proven to be more than enough for the ER nightshift, who often have to share meals with the EMT team.