It’s not everyday you get a call that pop sensation Lizzo wants to send lunch to the nurses at Grandview. According to Amy Cotterman, the Catering Director for the Columbus and Dayton McAlister’s Deli, she got that call from Lizzo’s people this past Sunday. They were coordinating lunch to deliveries to front line workers across the country. They had done some homework on Dayton area hospitals, and asked Amy to confirm that their choice would be a good fit for this donation. Through several more phone calls, arrangements were made and today boxed lunches were delivered to Grandview Hospital.
Dayton has been on Lizzo’s radar for a long time, as she has family in the area. Following tragic mass shootings in Dayton this past August, Lizzo was among many people who took to social media to express feelings of helplessness and frustration at the lack of progress following gun-related tragedies. On twitter she posted
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“Just got off the phone w/ fam in Dayton… it was a close call for them but that’s not the case for 9 other families between this & the terrorist attack in El Paso & recent other shootings I feel completely helpless.. make noise & bring awareness.. vote.. don’t normalize this.”
In a video she posted online today Lizzo shared this message:
“Hello, Grandview Medical Center. It is Lizzo and I just wanted to say thank you. A thousand times thank you for all of the hard work that you guys have been doing during this pandemic. We are trying to stay inside and we are thinking of you, and praying for you guys every day, but I wanted to do a little bit more than that and send you guys a treat. I hope you guys enjoy your food. I hope it puts a smile on your face and I hope that you guys have a moment of appreciation or that you feel the appreciation from me and all the people around the world who are thinking of you 24/7. So, if you need anything else, let me know. But other than that, have a great day and just know that I love you.”
Amy Cotterman
Cotterman shared that franchise owner Jake Mulvey believes “Health care professionals are truly on the front lines of this Pandemic and McAlister’s Deli is in awe of the work these medical professionals do.” Mulvey took over and has turned around the two Miami Valley locations in the fall of 2018.
Cotterman says that in dealing with the arrangements with Lizzo’s team, they were delightful, charming and obviously have their hearts in the right place. McCallister’s employees got a kick out of the order from Lizzo and they appreciate the fact that people care. She also shared that they’ve done similar catering orders for other celebrity clients including John Legend.
On Thursday McCalister’s Dei will be feeding the ER at Soin Medical Center on their own cost, “because these warriors are our heroes!”
Buckeye Vodka is inviting Ohio bartenders to create their own 
You and your friends are invited to join Tender Mercy – no matter where you are – for Vine to Online: A Virtual Wine Tasting to support YWCA Dayton, hosted by Tender Mercy sommelier Lauren Gay!
There’s a new Mediterranean restaurant in Engelwood. Opened just a few weeks ago, Cafe Terra Mediterranean Cuisine is serving up an eclectic mix of flavors from the Aegean region offering traditional homemade recipes with a twist. According to their 
Local mom Aubrey Medlin “first read about rainbows being displayed in Italy along with the phrase “Tutto andra’ bene,” or “Everything will be OK,” and I just thought it was such a nice gesture of hope, love, and peace. Then I read an article about a person in Philadelphia who added to the fun by not only displaying rainbows, but also creating a scavenger hunt for the kids in the neighborhood”
Aubrey has been mapping out the rainbows as they find them, now using google maps to plot them. “My son loves anything involving a map, so he has been happy to carry the map around and mark off our “found” rainbows. We even found some in some other neighborhoods while we were driving to pick up our groceries on a rainy day.”
announced today the third round of recipients in a series of grants awarded from the COVID-19 Response Fund for Greater Dayton to help local not-for-profits provide emergency, basic human needs during the COVID-19 crisis. Grants totaling $201,000 were awarded to the following 10 local not-for-profit organizations.
So earlier this week we decided to put up a DaytonDining Quiz, knowing folks had some extra time on their hands after the Governor’s stay at home order. We pulled 10 questions, mostly based on past stories from MostMetro.com. Our former food adventure partner Steve “The Big Ragu” Milano provided a good amount of the research that helped us pick these questions. We saw many posts saying the questions were to hard, but based on the results, we must have some smart foodie followers. 84% of the respondents were woman, folks from 18 different zip codes entered and 16 people aced the answers. From those, 16 we randomly drew our winner and Dawn Heit from Clayton will be receiving a $25 gift card to Old Scratch Pizza.
2. What local restaurant made Vice President George Bush Sr. wait 45 minutes for a table?
3. Name the oldest potato chip company in the country
6. What Iron Chef grew up in Dayton and cooked at his mother’s Mandarin Kitchen restaurant?
The Small Business Relief Initiative was started by GoFundMe to help small businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and empower their communities to rally behind them. GoFundMe has partnered with Yelp and Intuit QuickBooks to provide small business owners with the financial support and resources needed to continue running their businesses during and after the coronavirus crisis.
During this unprecedented time, I wanted to share some of the real estate information and updates I have been receiving over the last week. If you are like many homeowners, I’m sure you have legitimate concerns about how the coronavirus pandemic is going to impact your home value and your mortgage, if you have one. I share those concerns and have been reading the best real estate information currently available, and wanted to share it with you. Obviously, this situation is fluid and rapidly changing, and as more news and information continues to come in,I will use this single post going forward to add any additional updates.
*It’s imperative for you to take action if you have been laid off. Contact your lender as soon as possible.
*As I was writing this blog post, Governor DeWine issued a Stay At Home Order for Ohio. The impact this will have on the economy is unknown right now, still, as we learned from the foreclosure crisis, it’s important to remember people are moving- people will continue to buy and sell homes, but the process of buying and selling is going to change. Real estate transactions already in progress should be able to carry on, but expect some delays and changes in how certain processes get done. A few things you can expect- you are going to see increased use of virtual tours and 3-D tours, and tools like Zoom. If you do physically show up at a home, you are likely to travel in your own car, you might be asked to wear footies, you might be asked not to touch surfaces like light switches and doorknobs, your agent might be using gloves or wipes to open doors… It’s going to be different and we are all doing what we can to continue to protect the public as much as possible. Here in Dayton, we were still accustomed to Round Table c
“Giving back to our community is important to us, especially during times of great need,” said Elizabeth Cooper of Home Experts Realty group Dayton Real Estate Crush. “This is our own small way of spreading some love and supporting the workers who are pushed to their limits by this crisis.”
