Quincy Valley Medical Center employees were treated to a barbeque lunch Wednesday afternoon at the medical center. On the menu; smoked tri-tip, smoked chicken, caesar salad, cookies and macaroni salad.
Ryan Petersen, a Vantage DataCenters employee and Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce board member, arrived early that morning to the medical center with his smoker barbeque in tow to prepare the lunch. The smoker was part of a larger rig, an impressive trailer set up for full meal service.
“We have a lot of friends and family that are essential workers (and) first responders,” Petersen said. “With COVID-19 and just seeing everything the way it hit and how it hit, and how stressful it was on our friends and family, we figured this was something we could do to try to bring something nice, a little break, just to bring a smile to the face type of thing and to thank them for being those essential workers.”
Akins Fresh Market and Vantage Data Centers contributed to the thank-you meal for the essential workers at the hospital. In total, Petersen, accompanied by his wife and son, served about 50 medical center employees and even left additional plates for the night shift workers.
“Having somebody come and extend this kind of a gift, a token of appreciation, is a moral boost that comes just at a really good time,” QVMC CEO Glenda Bishop said. “There’s an emotional and intellectual fatigue that’s kind of starting to set in with all of this, and an event like this thrown to just show appreciation is a real boost to the morale of our staff. We are touched.”