RICHFIELD, Minn. — We all know how tough the pandemic has been on restaurants, and how much the community has tried to support them.
This story is a bit of a flip on that.
“Very challenging for everybody, especially the employees,” says Rich Thompson, owner of Fireside Foundry, as he describes this last year in business.
But when Fireside Foundry opened up last week after the second state-mandated COVID shutdown, Thompson knew his people would show up.
“That's one thing about Richfield, it's a tight-knit, little community, great support, and we have a bunch of great regulars,” he says.
Regulars like Billy and Tracy Jenson, who live just six blocks away.
For the Jensons, supporting their neighborhood restaurant during COVID was a no-brainer, as they consider the folks at Fireside extended family after all these years.
“It is our neighborhood joint, and we have made lifelong friends with people that are up here on a regular basis,” says Tracy Jenson.
So, you can imagine how it shook folks at Fireside when they heard the news.
“It was December 28th, early morning, 4 a.m. I woke up. I don't know why or how,” says Billy Jenson as he describes the night their house burned.
Just a couple days after Christmas, the Jenson's home caught fire. They made it out with literally the clothes on their backs.
“Conversations with the Fire Chief afterwards saying 10 more minutes and we might not have made it,” says Tracy.
Billy went to the hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation. Their cars, their belongings, their home... all of it gone.
“Right away my wife and I said, we gotta do something,” says Thompson.
Rich and Jill Thompson decided to donate 100% of Fireside's Tuesday proceeds to the couple. Dine in, carry out, as many orders as they can fill.
“Short answer, it's just the right thing to do. These people support us and now it's time for us to step up,” Rich says.
“The way the restaurant business is right now, for them to even consider this, kind of blows us away,” says Billy.
But that's what communities do, right? They help each other. And out of terrible times, come brilliant reminders of the good people who surround us.
“We're lucky, we're very lucky. Yeah," the couple says with tears in their eyes.
You can help support Billy and Tracy Jenson on their gofundme page.
MORE NEWS: