Businesses team up to deliver meals
People working on the front lines at six area hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic were treated to free lunches recently, thanks to Baum, Smith & Clemens, LLP and Trappe Tavern.
“It is both local companies’ way of giving back and saying ‘thank you’ to all the medical professionals who are risking their lives for all of us,” Paul Kozeniewski, a certified public accountant and Baum, Smith & Clemens marketing director, wrote in an email.
Dave Duryea, Trappe Tavern’s president and one of its owners, put together trays of hoagies, sandwich rolls and sandwiches, Kozeniewski said in a telephone interview.
“We wrapped them up and delivered them with bags of potato chips, all the side condiments, the whole nine yards, so they had everything to eat right there,” he said.
The meals started on Tuesday, April 28 and continued Tuesdays and Thursdays until each of the six hospitals had been served, he said. Each received a tray of 60 sandwiches for any of the hospital’s personnel who wanted to take advantage of it, he said.
“Every single hospital was so appreciative,” Kozeniewski said.
“We just figured they’d be swamped with different offers,” he said, “but they were just so appreciative.”
The idea for the meals came about as Baum, Smith & Clemens looked for ways to help out during the pandemic, Kozeniewski said.
“We figured we’d do a double whammy here,” he said. “We can support one of our clients, Trappe Tavern, and in the meantime the two of us get together and we’ll help support these doctors and nurses and all the front line people that we possibly could.”
The six hospitals that received the meals were Abington Hospital — Lansdale, Grand View Hospital, Einstein Medical Center — Montgomery, Doylestown Hospital, St. Luke’s Quakertown and Lehigh Valley Hospital — Cedar Crest, he said.
Trappe Tavern is a family run business that has its roots in the 1700s and was re-established in 1988, Kozeniewski said. It is currently open for takeouts and curbside pick ups, he said.
Baum, Smith & Clemens is the Harleysville affiliate of CPAmerica International, an exclusive association of more than 80 full-service, independent accounting and consulting firms across the country that share training, management techniques and other services, he said.