Table of Contents
Rare is the small business that has made it through the last year unscathed – and rarer still is the restaurant. The pandemic's toll on eateries has been particularly brutal, and most Richmond-area restaurants closed at least temporarily in 2020, if not for good.
A Romanian restaurant in Henrico was one of the few that managed to continue operating – by delivering meals. Among some of the biggest fans of European Taste's delivery service, in fact, were healthcare workers and first responders.
But on June 28, a new disaster confronted European Taste, as one of the restaurant owners broke both her wrists. Unable to work, and with surgery, therapy, and an extensive recovery ahead, Ligia Sava and her husband, Puiu, faced the prospect of permanent closure.
With the help of both friends and strangers, however, European Taste has managed to stay afloat. Ligia's friend Clara Petrescu created a GoFundMe to help pay her medical bills, and within three days, restaurant regulars and members of the community had surpassed the fundraiser goal -- pitching in nearly $9,000. Since then, the total has risen to more than $16,000.
In a recent email update to the Citizen, Petrescu wrote, "Ligia is working very hard every day on her recovery – doing physical therapy to regain motion and full strength on both her hands and wrists." The restaurant is expected to open, she added, sometime after Labor Day. (Judging from the donor page – sprinkled with such comments as "Can't wait for some shepherd's pie!" – staff should prepare for a crowd.)
On the GoFundMe site, Petrescu expressed her "heartfelt thanks" to contributors who provided the means for Ligia to focus on her recovery.
"We couldn’t have done it without you [and] your generous donations," she wrote. "We had a tremendous turnout from this amazing Romanian and American community!"
Strike, funerals and a wheelchair
The success of the European Taste fundraiser represents just a small sample, however, of the community spirit and generous giving that have brightened the dreary – and too often tragic – months of the pandemic.
After two teen-agers were killed in Henrico shootings in May, fundraisers provided help for funeral expenses. Within less than 24 hours, a GoFundMe for the family of 18-year-old Brittney J. Peyton generated more than $2,000; organizers disabled the fundraiser after it surpassed $7,000. The family of Aureon Evans, another 18-year-old killed by gunfire, was also aided by a GoFundMe project that raised more than $3,000.
More recently, members of the Richmond chapter of BCTGM (Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union) went on strike against Nabisco/Mondelez International in August. According to union leaders, Nabisco is trying to make staff work longer hours, while paying less overtime; leaders are also concerned about recent factory closures, and want the company to restore pensions, which were replaced years ago by a 401(k) plan.
The GoFundMe fundraiser created to help support the strike (which displays the headline "Oreo Bakers Won't Settle for Crumbs") raised $12,000 within days. As of Sept. 1, the total had grown to $21,352.
Focus on the future
And then there's young Jack Ridolphi, who recently received a grant through the Challenged Athletes Foundation to help buy a Strike Force power soccer chair.
Jack lives with a degenerative muscular condition known as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and uses a wheelchair.
"But I don't let that stop me," he writes on his GoFundMe page. Among the activities he enjoys is power soccer, which is much like traditional soccer – except that he moves the ball with a wheelchair attachment instead of kicking with his feet.
"I am looking for ways to improve my skills," wrote Jack, "[and] one tool that would really help me is a wheelchair specifically designed for power soccer." Because the grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation didn't fully cover the chair's cost, Jack started a fundraiser to make up the difference – about $3,200.
In one day, the community surpassed his original goal.
"Thank you for your support," wrote Jack. "It means so much to me.
"Power soccer has always been a fantastic experience for me. [It] has helped me focus less on my disability, and more on what lies ahead."
