LYNN — George Markos, owner of Brothers Deli on Market Street, catered and donated Thanksgiving meals for more than 25 people at Bridgewell’s Roseway Day Services in Danvers on Wednesday.
The day program, which is run by Bridgewell, hosts a Thanksgiving luncheon every year, usually purchasing food from Market Basket or Boston Market.
With one of the stoves that the center uses broken, it couldn’t purchase food from Market Basket because it needed to be cooked. And last year’s order from Boston Market got mixed up, so Program Director Amanda Murray said they were in a pickle.
“We needed to find some place that could give us a warm meal the day before Thanksgiving,” Murray said.
A coworker recommended Murray call Brothers Deli, as Markos has a long history of helping out the community.
Murray called Markos saying she was looking for a turkey dinner to serve the 25 to 28 people in the day program, and when she asked the price of the dinners, Markos said they were all set.
“He told me that for the past 25 years, he has always donated to either shelters or nonprofits,” Murray said. “I had to do a double take to make sure that I was understanding correctly that he was donating it all.”
Murray and one of her coworkers used to work at the Bridgewell day program in Lynn and her coworker used to take individuals in the program to Brothers Deli for lunch.
Once they became regulars, Markos would sometimes give them their meals at no charge, and would always take care of them.
“He was just so willing and welcoming; it wasn’t even a question for him,” Murray said. “It’s awesome.”
Murray said she reached out to other places to help with this year’s luncheon, but many were short staffed and not able to help.
When Murray told the group from Roseway Day Services that the Thanksgiving luncheon was donated this year, she said everyone was ecstatic. The program wasn’t able to host a Thanksgiving luncheon last year because of the pandemic, so this is the first event since the program fully reopened in October.
“This is a nice gathering with all the individuals being back together,” Murray said.
As a way to thank Markos for his generosity, the individuals in the program all signed a turkey thank-you card and gave it to Markos, along with a basket full of Bridgewell swag.
Roseway Day Services provides programming for adults 22 and older with disabilities, offering compassionate social interaction and life-skills education for adults facing intellectual challenges.
Bridgewell has other day programs in Lynn, Billerica and Stoneham, which are welcome to anyone who lives with intellectual, developmental, psychiatric, and physical challenges.
The programs provide a safe, comfortable, and engaging environment for its members to learn, grow, and socialize.
