Outbreak inspires eatery to give away meals

Family Restaurant will hand out 100 free breakfasts, 200 lunches each day from March 18 -20

Novel coronavirus is taking a bite out of some people’s budgets because of businesses closing or reducing employees’ work hours.

But a Painesville Township restaurant is trying to lift the spirits and satisfy the appetites of people in this predicament by providing them with free meals.

Family Restaurant at 1945 Mentor Ave. is responding to the COVID-19 outbreak by giving away 300 free carryout meals from March 18 through March 20.

Owner Sam Darowich said he’s hoping that the program will help local residents who have been put out of work or are dealing with other financial hardships stemming from the effects of COVID-19.

For three days, Family Restaurant plans to give away a limited selection and number of free breakfasts and lunches. Starting at 9 a.m., from March 18 through the 20th, 100 breakfasts consisting vegetable omelettes and home fries will be given away, the restaurant’s Facebook page stated. Beginning at 1 p.m., 200 lunches — 100 featuring chicken and an equal number with spaghetti — will be offered.

Those meals will be packed for carryout because of a state order that prohibits food from being eaten inside restaurants due to health risks associated with COVID-19.

Breakfasts and lunches from the limited menu will be given away on a first-come, first-serve basis until the food is gone, Darowich

said.

The program is sponsored by two restaurants owned by Darowich — Family Restaurant in Painesville Township and Sammy’s Family Restaurant at 625 River St. in Grand River Village. However, Darowich said the free meals will be distributed only at his Painesville Township eatery.

While Family Restaurant is stocked with enough food to supply three days’ worth of free meals, Darowich said he’d like to keep the program going for even longer.

To help make that possible, financial donations to extend the free-meal giveaways are being accepted at Family Restaurant.

Anyone with questions about the meal-give-away program or contributing to the effort can call the business at 440-357-8477.

Darowich said Family Restaurant received one donation on March 16 for $300 to help fund the program.

“(Donations) are not for ourselves,” he said. “We’re giving back to the community.”

employees. It urged people to consider takeout and pickup options. Ohio’s investor-owned utilities suspended disconnections for customers with past-due bills.

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Multiple St. Patrick’s Day parades were canceled in the past few days, including Tuesday in Columbus, one of the few Ohio cities that holds the parade on the holiday itself.

QUOTE

“The last thing that any of us want is for a funeral or a wedding to be the cause of someone else dying.” — DeWine, urging people to limit gatherings even though it may involve “very difficult” decisions for families.