Metra Rules Examiner Arturo Mota knows the power of $10.
After hearing that local restaurants were setting aside their own financial struggles caused by COVID-19 to make and deliver meals for local healthcare workers, Mota, a Metra employee for more than 25 years and a Melrose Park trustee, helped to launch a GoFundMe campaign to support those restaurants’ efforts.
“I knew of a business that made a donation of sandwiches and I thought as a community, we should all follow their lead and help,” Mota said. “Let’s help local businesses help to put a smile on the faces of our hospital workers and first responders. These meals are reaching everyone from emergency crews, x-ray technicians and even those who do housekeeping at the hospitals.”
On the left, Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski honors Rules Examiner Arturo Mota for 25 years of service at Metra. On the right, Mota (far right) helps deliver Firehouse Subs to emergency room workers at Loyola University Medical Center (Photo provided).
The restaurant, Aracely’s Bakery, which has four locations in the Chicago suburbs, provided their first meals to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn on March 21. Each meal included a sandwich, chips, cookie and a soft drink. The village of Melrose Park partnered with the Proviso Township Mental Health Commission to start the campaign asking residents to donate at least $10, the cost to sponsor one meal.
“First we helped Aracely’s, and then we thought we should try to open it up for others that had already established relationships with hospitals, and that’s where the GoFundMe started,” Mota said. “People can fund the businesses of their choice directly, too. That’s cool. Everyone needs to survive through this pandemic. Times are tough for all of us.”
So far, the GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $2,800. Between the GoFundMe, individual donations directly to the restaurants and a popcorn drive, Mota estimates more than $12,000 has been raised for the cause. Ten checks of $250 each have been dispersed between Scuderio’s Italian Bakery and Deli in Melrose Park, Firehouse Subs in Stone Park, and Aracely’s. Each $250 check covers meals for an entire shift in the ICU. These three restaurants have donated meals to healthcare workers and first responders at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, MacNeal Hospital, UIC Medical Center, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Loyola University Medical Center, and Lurie Children’s Hospital.
For the first time since the campaign started, Mota helped deliver some meals himself. He and the staff from Firehouse Subs brought lunches to the emergency room staff at Loyola University Medical Center’s emergency room on Wednesday, May 6, which happened to be National Nurses Day.
“I had goosebumps walking in,” Mota said. “These are folks I’ve never met and will probably never meet again and they’re so happy to see you, even though they’re the ones doing the hard work. We just want them to know how much we appreciate them.”
That show of appreciation will continue for at least two more months. With all the money that has been raised so far, the groups will be able to provide meals until July.