During times of crisis, leadership by example is more important than ever. People will rally around leaders in times of crisis and you can see this with countless examples within our communities. Employees within businesses may be anxious, uncertain or worrisome during this time and they look to leaders around them for stability, hope and direction. And as leaders there is no better way to influence the mindset of your team than to embody the behaviors and attitudes you’d like to broadcast.
At Metonic, we have many tenants whose business screeched to a halt in early March because of the pandemic. The dramatic nature in which this happened left businesses scrambling to figure out whether they should stay open as consumer behavior was shifting rapidly, and at the same time health officials and government leaders were recommending people to stay home and social distance. The impact on revenue for many of our tenants, especially our restaurant partners was immediate.
With that in mind, Metonic as a group of leaders discussed how we could help our tenants at our shopping centers and at the same time do something for our first responders. We came up with a plan to partner with our restaurants and provide meals to our first responders. The plan was simple, reach out to the ownership group of the restaurants and see if they were willing to do group orders for our first responders.
The answer was a resounding yes. It was good for business and at the same time altruistic. The next step was to find people at hospitals, fire stations and police stations…. those on the front lines who are risking their well-being every day to keep our communities safe. After identifying our first responder contacts we set a plan in place to serve as many meals as possible during a 3-week stretch.
We are proud to say that nearly 300 meals were delivered to first responders from our partners during the month of April. Owners of restaurants were appreciative of the business and the first responders were overjoyed that they can receive meals at no cost which also makes it convenient for them to catch a quick bite to eat during this overworked and stressful time.
Thank you to Westwood Plaza and Montclair on Center for helping fund the food for first responders, and thank you to the following restaurants for providing meals:
- Amigos
- Bruegger’s Bagels
- Rusty Taco
- Subway
- Zio’s
Getting your team to rally during this time has a lot to do with the leadership. And leaders do great work during this time when they show compassion, provide stability and demonstrate the willingness to help.