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Businesses reach out to rise above coronavirus restrictions
By Thor Jourgensen | April 29, 2020
When coronavirus social distancing restrictions slammed her Peabody business, Nothing Bundt Cakes owner Sherri Foresta found ways to stay open and increase her social media presence.
She solicited nominations for local front line heroes fighting coronavirus on North Shore Eats and received almost 100 names in the week beginning on April 19.
“We decided we wanted to recognize people going above and beyond,” Foresta said.
With her workforce reduced from 15 to eight employees, Foresta is scrambling to fill customer orders and deliver free cakes to individuals nominated for their work in hospitals, as first responders, teaching children, stocking grocery stores and doing other crucial jobs.
“We’re going to honor them all,” she said.
Business and marketing associate professor Dianne McDermott Cerasuolo turned her students into teachers when North Shore Community College switched from classroom learning on the Lynn and Danvers campus to online learning to comply with social distancing.
She asked students enrolled in classes she was already teaching online to create videos for their classmates instructing them in virtual learning. She got 18 videos back within days.
“I cried through half of them, they were so heart felt,” she said.
With coronavirus stretching into a third month, businesses — like the rest of society — have had to rethink how they work and rise above restrictions to reach customers and survive.
Customers craving Rino’s Italian cuisine order takeout in Saugus resident Anna Dicenso’s East Boston restaurant, instead of sit-down meals. That focus on making ready-to-go meals aided Dicenso and her employees in preparing 50 lunches last Saturday they donated to the town of Saugus.
“It’s a ‘thank you’ for all first responders and everyone else does,” Dicenso said.
Saugus Board of Selectmen member Corinne Riley said Dicenso is just one example of a local business owner rising above coronavirus’ restrictions to serve customers along with people on the COVID-19 front lines.
Angela’s Coal Fired Pizza and Kowloon provided food for town employees and first responders and Wheelabrator “made a substantial amount of monetary donation,” Riley said.
Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Julie Daigle said Todisco Properties has helped the Chamber and Peabody Main Streets encourage people to shop downtown. Shoppers who show proof of purchase are entered into a raffle to win $25 gift certificates good for downtown shopping.
Treadwell’s Ice Cream has donated its product to nonprofit and other organization workers and Atlantic Ambulance, which maintains a Lynn base, won praise from police and fire chiefs for retooling its response to medical calls in order to minimize exposing police officers and firefighters to coronavirus.
Spinale and Company owner Lisa Spinale in Swampscott has continued painting her Humphrey Street windows with what she hopes are themes inspiring drivers and walkers.
“It’s all to bring the neighborhood together,” she said.
A smiling face adorned the window and then an Easter bunny after Spinale initially painted a rainbow. She is optimistic about reopening and has sketched out a plan to integrate social distancing into the salon.
Cerasuolo said many of her students, including Lynn residents, juggle jobs and schools. Some are without work during the coronavirus pandemic, and find themselves using virtual learning to spend more time in online conversations with teachers.
“Those conversations are critical. What used to be five- or 10-minute calls have become 15- and 20-minute calls,” she said.
Dicenso is optimistic about returning to the business routine Rino’s enjoyed before coronavirus. The restaurant’s takeout business has been busier than she anticipated and she said it is a privilege to feed people working on the coronavirus front lines.
“We’re just doing what we have to do,” she said.