Group raising money for struggling Lehigh Valley restaurant workers
The coronavirus economy has been ruthless and unsentimental to Lehigh Valley restaurant owners and their workers.
They are in one of several industries uniquely affected by COVID-19 s easy indoor transmission, which has led Gov. Tom Wolf and state officials to force them to limit service or shut down several times since the virus struck the state in March. The most recent shutdown, which went into effect Dec. 12 to stop the spread of the virus, runs until 8 a.m. Jan. 4.
Now the Lehigh Valley Restaurant Owners Alliance is asking the public to help those workers via an online fundraiser. The emergency-fund will be earmarked for restaurant employees, Steve DiDonato, who spearheads the restaurant group, said in a news release Thursday.
DiDonato said Friday he knows workers who have been struggling financially since the pandemic began. Some have lost lost their homes and are relying on friends for shelter, he said.
“What rips my gut out is there are people in Easton who are professional waiters, not fly-by-nights or part-time kids, who are swapping between homes because they can’t pay the rent,” he said.
While most employment sectors remain off prepandemic levels, no industry has been hit harder than leisure and hospitality. That sector employed 27,700 in the Lehigh Valley in October, the most recent month for which data is available, down10,900 jobs from a year earlier. The November unemployment report is due Jan. 5.
Within that sector, however, accommodation and food services recorded a gain of 400 jobs from September. But those businesses still have a long way to go.
It’s why DiDonato and organizers with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce have been trying to financially rally the restaurants and their workers.
The chamber launched a grant campaign this week that will provide owners of 100 restaurants with $1,500 each. Lorie Reinert, executive director of the Chamber Foundation, a nonprofit arm administering the grants, said 240 restaurant owners applied during the one-hour online submission process. She said a committee will meet Monday to decide on the grants.
Others have tried to help with large gift-card purchases and various measures.
The restaurant association is seeking $250,000 for the emergency fund, and said in a news release that the money will be held in an account at the Univest Bank branch on Main Street in Bethlehem. A review board and a bank representative will authorize the release of money.
Employees must have been working full time at the start of the first shutdown in March and seek relief for such needs as rent or mortgage payments, utility bills or legal fees.
“Everybody needs to step up to this,” DiDonato said.
More information is at gofundme.com; search Lehigh Valley Restaurant Employees