Anderson Aid meals that serve a dual purpose
By Lisa Marie Carter
When the coronavirus pandemic hit our community, as a marketing professional I felt the need to put my marketing skills to use helping other small businesses and doing “something more.” As I worked on formulating some unique ideas for keeping business going for one of my clients, The Local Pub and Eatery, it just all started to come to me: a great way for people who want to help out and do more, a way to thank our tireless healthcare workers and other front-line workers, who are literally putting their health at risk to help keep our families well and safe, and also a way to help out one of the hardest-hit business groups, the locally owned small restaurants — all in one plan. I knew right away who to run this idea by, Sarah and Shane Dowler, the owners of The Local Pub and Eatery and The Local Uptown. I ran my idea by them, and they were not only on board and excited, Sarah immediately started reaching out to other locally owned restaurants in town to get them involved. “When I heard Lisa’s idea for Anderson Aid, I immediately thought, wow! What an amazing idea. Thanking our front-line workers, supporting our struggling restaurants and giving the public who are frustrated sitting at home an opportunity to actually do something to show appreciation,” said Sarah. What is Anderson Aid about? It is quite simple. We pick a featured restaurant of the week. Anyone, anywhere, can call in to the designated restaurant of the week and pay for an Anderson Aid gift card/donation. The restaurant will then put that aside and at the end of the week they will gather all of the donations and deliver a prepaid lunch order to front-line employees to thank them for all they do. Then, the following week, we designate a new featured restaurant and repeat the same procedure. There are two requests we make from the designated restaurant: they write thank you and/or uplifting notes on the each of the meal containers, and they supply the dessert. The first week we had more than $500 donated, and each week thereafter we had great support, with over $2,000 donated one week. Using these donations, there were more than 500 meals served by several local restaurants to AnMed, Anderson City Police, Anderson County Sheriff ’s Office, and Patrick B. Harris Psychiatric Hospital. Since the conception of this movement, we have been contacted by others wanting to partner with us and help. Most recently, Boy Scout Troop 84 from Central Presbyterian Church became involved. This andersonmagazine.com
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July/August 2020