We all know that the hospitality industry has been hard hit in recent times, but this heart-warming story gives you faith in humanity. It concerns an out of town restaurant in Naples, New York, owned and run by a lady called Mandy Gorton.
“A couple weeks after indoor dining was shut down in New York, I received a card in the mail from a couple who come to Roots Cafe regularly. It was a beautiful card expressing their concern for us being able to survive the shutdown and their wish to help in some way. In the card was a check for $1,000 made out to me personally. I immediately burst into tears. I had been so worried about so many things: What was going to happen to our staff who just lost their job? How was I going to keep the lights on? What was I going to do about all the bills that were still coming due? How was I going to pay rent?"
"The world was falling down around me, and out of the blue, a card with a note ― and a check ― from two people who had no idea how lost I was picked me up and changed that way I was looking at everything."
“I knew at that exact moment that we were going to ride this thing out no matter what and come back stronger. If someone else had that much faith in me, I had to find that much faith in myself. I stopped crying, wrote a heartfelt note and made a plan. I shared $1,000 with the staff, since they were my biggest concern, and worked on the rest. When we opened again, I sent another note of thanks to the couple and included a $1,000 check. I explained that they were my inspiration to keep moving forward. I received a letter back explaining that they loved the note but ripped the check up!"
"They said a gift was a gift and they would have spent it here anyway. They came two weeks ago. It was their first time they’ve been out since COVID and they came here. I was crying all over again.” ― Mandy Gorton, owner, Roots Cafe (Naples, New York)