IMAGINE from Page 45
brief moment, not have to worry about some of these challenges and enjoy Thanksgiving like so many of our families.” The meal is traditional, turkey and the fixings, with a little bit of Zolo’s southwestern flair added in. But the food is almost beside the point. It’s the community and the Zolo staff’s commitment to service that makes this event so special. “The staff who work it, they give up their time, but I think it adds to the family atmosphere overall, because it’s no lon-
Tip Top rough puff pastry now available at our shop (No one will ever know you didn’t make it)
Open Sunday through Thursday 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Friday and Saturday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM 105 North Public Road, Lafayette, Colorado (720) 845-2155 46
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NOVEMBER 21, 2019
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ger your standard transactional restaurant experience. These folks are there because they want to be there. They want to be part of making someone’s Thanksgiving a little more special,” Hobbs says. “It’s almost this cumulative, snowballing effect — everybody is there for the right reason. They’re incredibly generous to give up the holiday and to do it so many times.” Big Red F owner Dave Query really doesn’t want praise heaped on him for hosting the event, but it’s worth noting the event started when he, serving on the Imagine! board, worked with the group to further address one of its key tenets: to provide opportunities to those with developmental disabilities that everyone else in the community enjoys. “[Query] recognized that this time of year can be tough for a lot of people but for people with disabilities and their families. There are challenges all the time, financial, physical, emotional challenges,” Hobbs says. “And I think he just wanted to do something where maybe one day that family didn’t have to worry about anything and celebrate.” The meal at Zolo is also one of the few opportunities, Hobbs says, for these families to enjoy a meal out at a restaurant. Whether it’s a lack of funds, or transportation, or time, or if there is concern that the family will somehow disturb the restaurant or its diners, families with people with disabilities don’t often get to just drop in for a bite at a local restaurant. “The way disability manifests itself, there are behavioral challenges that make going out in public a challenge. This is a group that’s already understanding and are aware of what those challenges mean,” Hobbs says. This year, the Imagine!/Zolo Thanksgiving meal will include 250 people, which includes families with people with disabilities of all ages. So cherished is the opportunity that signups for the dinner reached capacity three hours after they were made available. This is what service and hospitality look like. For everything that the restaurant industry can be, it doesn’t get any better than this. BOULDER WEEKLY