Photo courtesy Kirk Dawes Photo courtesy Kirk Dawes
Chatham

Frontline workers inspire act of kindness by local resident

A Chatham man is teaming up with a local pizzeria to show appreciation to frontline workers.

With the help of Godfathers Pizza in Chatham, Kirk Dawes delivered over a dozen pizzas to the employees at Villiage on the Thames on Monday.

Dawes dropped off 10 pizzas to the morning shift and seven for the afternoon crew. The idea hit close to home for Dawes -- his wife works at the retirement home as a personal support worker.

Dawes said he has seen first hand over the last month and a half what essential employees deal with every time they clock into work.

"Just to show my personal appreciation for what they do. It's nothing to do with me," explained Dawes. "Obviously, as the husband of somebody that works there, I hear the dangers and I know the hours she works."

When it comes to what the last few weeks have been like for Dawes' wife, he said the one word that sums it up is "busy."

"They're all wondering what's going on. There are no exposed active cases in there but they just want to try and keep it out," he said. "The [virus] just runs rampant once it gets in someplace."

Dawes worked with Terry Fenton, the owner of Godfathers Pizza, to make it all possible. He said the business went out of its way to help out with the initiative.

"We originally made an agreement on what I was going to be purchasing. Then he stepped up and went from 17 medium pizzas to 17 large pizzas with three toppings and breadsticks to go along with it. So, he added to it after the initial conversation we had a couple of days before," Dawes explained. "I thought that was great."

Dawes is hoping that by making his story public, he will inspire other residents in the community to come up with something similar and do what they can to show appreciation to all the essential employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If the public or the children of people who are in there, if they see it, if they feel they can... supply a meal for the workers, that would be awesome," said Dawes.

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