Lending A Hand
Chamber Members Give Back During COVID-19
If there’s one thing we’ve learned during COVID-19, Ulster County is blessed with an abundance of business owners who are not only concerned about the welfare of their community but were prepared to do something about it.
Answering the call came naturally for restaurateurs like Mike Cioffi, owner of the Phoenicia Diner and Dixon Roadside in Woodstock.
As non-essential businesses began grinding to a halt in March, Cioffi already was sending meals to those in need. His role expanded when Gov. Cuomo put New York “on pause.”
Cioffi heard about Project Resilience and quickly hooked up with the feeding program in both Shandaken and Kingston.
Then came opportunities to feed frontline workers at Margaretville Hospital and residents at Mountainside Residential Care Center in Delaware County.
Courtney Malsatzki, general manager of Cioffi’s restaurants, said giving comes naturally to her boss.
“It’s a no-brainer for Mike. He’s active in all facets of the community,” she said. “I’ve run many restaurants, and I’ve never met anyone who donates so much to the community. For him, it was about keeping the community spirit alive.”
Even now as coronavirus cases are dropping in Ulster County and things are loosening up, Cioffi continues his mission by distributing gift cards donated on social media to those in need.
“I think anybody who is in the service industry does it because they love feeding people,” Malsatzki said. “It’s what makes us happy—feeding people and making sure they feel comfortable, especially in such a weird and stressful time.”
Someone else who soldiered on during COVID-19 was Tom Struzzieri, the owner of Diamond Mills Hotel & Tavern in Saugerties.
Brianne Ebel, the company’s Director of Sales, said while Diamond Mills was closed during the shutdown, Struzzieri donated food to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Ulster County; Family of Woodstock; frontline workers at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley; and needy seniors and families in the village of Saugerties.
“We did both lunches and dinners to-go,” Ebel said. “We did individually packaged dinners and family-style dinners for HealthAlliance. There were a lot of moving parts.”
Diamond Mills donated about 2,500 to 3,000 meals a week. The busiest, by far, was when 5,550 meals went out the door. The Struzzieri family worked alongside the kitchen staff at Diamond Mills.
“Tom felt it was the right thing to do and his opportunity to do something during a time of need,” Ebel said. “He’s made that statement quite a few times. It kept his family busy, and it was something that we’re able to do.”
Bob Siracusano believes that face coverings will be a hot commodity for the foreseeable future. That’s why the owner of Sawyer Motors donated more than 13,000 masks to the public, as well as banks, fire departments, restaurants, charities, nursing homes and agencies that serve the disabled.
In late April alone, he and a band of volunteers gave away about 4,000 disposable masks, along with toilet paper, at a drive-through at Cantine Veterans Memorial Complex, where the line of cars stretched around the venue over a two-hour period.
The whole mask project cost $12,500 and was financed through Siracusano’s Sawyer Motors Automotive Foundation and individual donations. The masks became even more important when Gov. Cuomo signed an executive order in late May allowing businesses to refuse service to anyone not wearing a mask.
Like many Chamber members, Siracusano identified needs during the pandemic and found creative ways to meet them.
It started out with small gestures like purchasing restaurant gift cards for families he knew had suffered job losses. It then moved to buying 80 gallons of ice cream from Stewart’s Shops to treat area nursing home residents, who could no longer have visitors.
As the virus continued spreading in Ulster County, Siracusano latched on to the medical reports recommending face coverings to prevent the spread. That’s when the mask idea hit him.
“Taking care of people is important to me,” he said. “It’s what I’ve learned to do, especially in times of need. Those of us in a position to help others have an obligation to step up and answer the call.”
Kevin Diers, owner of Foxhall Deli in Kingston, also found ways to keep busy. He did his part nourishing first responders and frontline workers, including personnel at the COVID-19 testing site on Grand Street in Midtown.
“We also made sure to take care of the ‘last responders,’ the funeral directors and their staff in Kingston who also were stressed,” Diers said.
In addition to participating in Project Resilience at the height of the coronavirus crisis, Diers distributed more than 350 lunchboxes filled with Boar’s Head meat products, salads and pickles, so that frontline workers could make their own sandwiches.
Opportunities later opened up for him to provide food through Meal Train Plus for HealthAlliance frontline personnel.
“They were so stressed-out, and we wanted to make sure they were well-fed,” he said. “What they were doing was so important. The last thing they needed to worry about was food.”
Diers, who had worries of his own, said giving was a way to turn it around and focus on others.
“Very early on, business was down 60 to 70 percent,” he said. “Sometimes, I felt like George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ where he found a dollar bill at the end of the day and everybody celebrated. I said, ‘We have money left. We can open the doors tomorrow.’”
Despite the uncertainty, Diers said he will always remember this time as an opportunity for service.
“It’s always been in my heart to help the community. You do it because you want to do it, and when you lay your head on the pillow at night, you feel good about yourself and the people around you.”
Diers reminded his fellow business owners to carry on the spirit of generosity once life returns to normal.
“Please remember the same people you helped during COVID-19. Do it once a month. Send a meal to the nurses in the emergency room or the people at the fire department just to say thank you.”
The owners of Herzog’s Home and Paint Center in Kingston also worked behind the scenes to brighten lives.
As a way to thank their essential workers and support local restaurants, they treated their staff to lunch many times during the pandemic, said Julie Jordan, the marketing and advertising manager.
The owners also found other ways to help such as donating personal protective equipment to fellow Kingston Plaza tenants like HealthQuest and Kingston Physical Therapy and delivering lunch to essential workers at the plaza, including Hannaford.
“Herzog’s recognized the early demand for masks and purchased several hundred from local seamstresses,” Jordan said. “Onehundred percent of the profits from the sale of the masks was presented to People’s Place as a donation to support the overwhelming needs in our community.”