A local lawyer and restaurant teamed up this week to deliver some sustenance to those on the front lines of the coronavirus fight.
The lawyer, Charles Kurmay. The restaurant: Oar and Oak.
Kurmay said he wanted to do something nice for health care workers “handling the day-to-day shrapnel” from the fight against the COVID-19 virus.
At the same time, restaurants are among the hardest-hit businesses from social isolation measures meant to flatten the curve and keep the health care system from being overwhelmed.
“We decided that it was really a no-brainer to attempt to do something that would benefit both the medical providers as well as some folks in need in the restaurant business,” Kurmay said.
To that end, the lawyer paid for Oar and Oak to make 150 bowls of chicken soup for delivery to local hospitals.
The restaurant shared a picture of the soups packaged for delivery Wednesday, saying the “heartwarming” soup would be dropped off “for those on the front lines working day and night to keep us safe and healthy.”
Fifty went to the ER at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, 50 went to its intensive care unit, and another 50 went to Milford Hospital on Friday.
“What’s better than chicken soup?” Kurmay said.
The effort will continue as long as the coronavirus crisis does and he can afford it, he said.
“It will cost money, but whatever. That’s why I work,” Kurmay said. “If we all cooperate and work together, we can collectively weather this storm.”
He said he was inspired by the memory of his grandfather, who owned Skippers restaurant in Lordship.
“He loved to feed the world,” Kurmay said.
The coronavirus crisis has led to realizations about just what’s important, he said.
“There are those workers who are essential and then there are those workers who are critical,” Kurmay said. “Without these people, people die. I like to think that I’m important, and maybe essential. But if I don’t write a brief, typically anyway, it shouldn’t be the difference between life and death.”
“We are trying to support those who administer life-saving measures throughout our community,” he said.
