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For Olive Garden, a labor of love
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Olive Garden provided lunches to St. Elizabeth Health Center
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SERVING: Olive garden representatives Ken Jones and Angie Anglin deliver food for a free buffet for workers on labor Day. The Boardman restaurant provided a free lunch for employees at St. Elizabeth in Boardman and the Niles Olive Garden fed the Niles police and firefighters on duty.
By Sean Barron
Free meals also are given for some community and school events, a manager said.
BOARDMAN — For nurses Joe Kollar, Millie Sattler and Diane Carbon, Labor Day and other holidays often mean just another day of work.
This Labor Day, however, also meant getting free lunches while at work.
Such was the case Monday for the three registered nurses at St. Elizabeth Health Center’s Boardman campus on McClurg Road.
“It’s just nice to know we’re appreciated,” said Carbon as she enjoyed her free meal, courtesy of the seventh annual Labor for Labor Day lunch delivery event put on by Olive Garden restaurants across the country.
The nation’s 647 restaurants, including one each in Niles and Boardman, assembled and delivered meals to hundreds of hospital workers, military personnel, firefighters, police officers and others who worked Labor Day and have made a difference in their communities, organizers said. The Niles store provided lunch to the Niles police and firefighters on duty Monday.
The three RNs, with nearly 60 years’ worth of combined nursing experience, were among those in the facility’s emergency room to receive the free lunches consisting of lasagna, spaghetti, salad, breadsticks and tiramisu, a cheese custard. The Olive Garden restaurant on U.S. Route 224 brought enough to serve 20 to 25 people.
“We like to give back to the community,” said Gary Frye, the Boardman eatery’s general manager. “For those who take care of us, we want to take care of them.”
Frye added that his restaurant has participated in the event all seven years.
In addition to Labor Day, the Boardman Olive Garden periodically provides free meals to certain school and other local events to build community relations, explained Ken Jones, one of the managers.
The free food came as a surprise to Rob Gershkowitz, director of the emergency department. Gershkowitz said he and his staff plan to show their appreciation to Olive Garden by soon having one of their meetings there.
Kollar, Carbon and Sattler praised their bosses and co-workers for helping to create what they said was a familylike and caring atmosphere at the hospital. A high emphasis is on teamwork, and part of protocol is for most employees to work every other holiday, Sattler added.
Sattler said she doesn’t mind working on Christmas, in part because she’s glad to be on hand for the patients who are lonely and have little or no family.
“Everyone who works here strives for perfection,” she added.