Winter descended on the area with a vengeance two Mondays ago when heavy snow began to pile up and another front last Friday dumped more mixed precipitation, only adding to the misery. Through it all, area road crews and heroes with trucks and plow blades came to the rescue, and the hard work and dedication of those workers caught the attention of several area businesses.
Melissa Capps, general manager of Scooter’s Coffee, was shoveling walks outside the Kewanee business when she observed the road crews hard at work. It got her thinking about what Scooter’s could do to repay them for that work and time spent away from their homes.
The very least they could do, she thought, was to provide them with some free hot coffee to warm them up, and so she got on the phone with her boss and asked if a free coffee give-a-way to those people clearing our roads was possible.
Capps said her boss immediately agreed and she went on social media to make the post. Road crews in need of a hot pick me up should stop by and grab a free cup, the post said. And many workers took them up on the offer, she said, pulling their plows into the parking lot and walking up to the window for some fresh brewed coffee.
Capps said the move by the Kewanee store prompted her boss to alert the 17 other Scooter’s Coffee stores to do the same, and she believes the practice will become company policy.
At Kewanee’s Happy Joe’s, owner Heather Avery was having the same thoughts. In the final hours of the day, she observed all of the road crews out clearing the streets.
“There were so many people out plowing that hadn’t gone home to their families,” she said. “I worried about them not eating.”
Avery also put out the word on Happy Joe’s social media page offering a free Little Joe and a drink to anyone out plowing. The first day, she got a few who took her up on her offer and stopped in.
The second day, she began to give out free coffee early in the day and at lunch, once again, she offered a hot meal to the crews. Several workers came in and got food. Some of them even placed an order for their families, and when they did, she used that as an opportunity to add free items to their orders. Families were at home, she knew, worried about their loved ones.
“The thing that I could do is offer them food,” she said.
But Avery wasn’t done helping people through the storm. When she learned from her mom that five women who relied on meal delivery from the Henry County Senior Citizens were housebound in homes that didn’t have adequate heat, she sent them orders of spaghetti dinners.
When the meals were delivered, Avery said seeing their faces light up was all the reward she needed.
“They were very appreciative,” said Avery.
Since the first spaghetti delivery, she has received private donations. Those donations, along with her own funds, allowed her to continue delivering meals to people in need throughout the weekend, and she intends to do so for as long as she can. Community sticking together through difficult times is important to her, she said.
“The community has supported me when I started my business and I want to return that support,” she said.
In Bishop Hill, the winter storm ruined plans for the Colony Inn’s employee Christmas party. Instead of letting the food go to waste, they opened up their doors inviting road crews to come in and have a meal. The road commissioner was out on the roads and only able to travel a mile in an hour, the owner said. Over twenty workers took her up on the offer and even took food to go for their families.
“I didn’t even think twice about it,” she said.
