I’ll be honest, the first thing I did when I read about this concept was cry. We’re all feeling the pressure of COVID-19 as parents and as humans, but it’s the front line workers who are truly our hero’s right now. I saw a meme the other day of a firefighter handing a baton to a doctor, and it was the perfect representation of today’s crisis. No one could have predicted how 2020 was going to roll. Two major historic events, and we’re only just entering quarter 2. We’re so grateful to all our hospital staff across all our hospitals in the hunter, including the John Hunter Hospital. What the staff are doing right now to help our community is beyond amazing.
Thank you Steel River Takeaway for your amazing Pay it Forward initiative. We hope our small gesture from the team at Lake Mac Family Life fills hearts with appreciation.
How Pay it Forward works
The ‘Pay it Forward’ menu on the Steel River Takeaway app is an affordable way to show your appreciation. You can purchase just one meal or multiple meals from a select menu on the app. Sam will then hand-deliver the meals to the hospital at the end of her busy day. Her contact at the hospital makes the decision of where the meals will be distributed to and the gratitude that follows is beyond measurable.
You just have to read the comments on their Facebook page to experience the good-will that flows from each delivery.
Meals are priced between $9-$15 and range from zucchini slice and salad to baked chicken dinners. Each meal is packed into a bag with a thank you message.
Pay it Forward challenge
Today we purchased 20 meals for staff at John Hunter Hospital. Many of the staff at this hospital come from Lake Macquarie. They are our husbands and wives, mums and dads, grandparents, daughters, sons and our friends and family.
We would have loved to have purchased 100’s so we could reach more staff, so that’s our challenge to you. If everyone purchased 1 meal we could flood the hospitals with heart-warming meals of appreciation.
Join us and Pay it Forward to the front line hospital staff and let them know how much we appreciate what they’re doing for our community.
Below is a photo of Deb, Sam’s Mother-in-Law and Sally Cogan who is the volunteer coordinator at the John Hunter Hospital. Today’s delivery brought tears to her eyes and as you can see in the background these meals are very popular with the staff.
Steel River Takeaway app
Owned by Sam and Paul Roderique, Steel River Takeaway, situated in the Steel River Industrial Estate, has felt the wrath of COVID-19. However, that hasn’t stopped Sam and her big heart to develop this brilliant initiative through their app.
They’ve had the app for approx. 2 years. It increases their ability to serve more people within a given time period because a lot of people pre order. It reduces the time for staff to take an order and if they pay online it reduces the overall time of the whole transaction. For the customer, there’s no waiting around, critical for time poor people or those on tight deadlines. Customers get a notification when their order has been received and when it’s ready for collection. They now have more than 60% of their customers using the app which has produced over 2000 downloads.
Sam and Paul developed the Pay it Forward idea within their app only a few weeks ago on March 25th. Their app has been instrumental in allowing the greater community to easily participate and make a difference. They have already donated over 124 meals.
