Simple meals of hot dogs and fries are making a big impact in the south suburbs as students home from school are getting free treats through the help of area businesses.
It started a couple of weeks ago at a Creamery ice cream shop in Manhattan, with children in kindergarten through 12th grade receiving a free lunch of a hot dog, fries and drink, and the concept expanded Wednesday to a Creamery in Homer Glen.
Next week, plans are to open up the idea to a Creamery in New Lenox, with health care workers and first-responders being the recipients.
The kids’ meals are available on Wednesdays at the Manhattan location, 525 W. North St., and Homer Glen, 15112 S. Bell Road.
Kevin Molloy, a State Farm Insurance agent in New Lenox, got in touch with Jen Fuessel, owner of real estate firm White Wave Properties in Manhattan, to kick things off at the Manhattan Creamery.
The initial food giveaway March 18 resulted in about 25 meals being given, and on March 25 that had swelled to more than 200 meals, Molloy said. On Wednesday the figure grew to a bit more than 280.
Molloy said about two years ago he started sponsoring free breakfasts for military veterans at locations in New Lenox and Manhattan, and the idea of footing the bill for the kids’ meals was an outgrowth of that.
“With schools shut down and looking at how many people are struggling and kids are going stir crazy, it seemed like the thing to do,” Molloy said Wednesday.
He and Fuessel worked with the Sisk family, which owns the three Creamery restaurants, to launch the lunch program in Manhattan.
Other Creamery locations in Frankfort, Mokena and Orland Hills are under different ownership.
“I was on board with it immediately,” Fuessel said. “I wanted to help out as much as possible.”
Michael Glenn, a broker and part owner of Village Realty, a real estate firm with several southwest suburban offices, said he has known the Sisks for quite some time and is footing the bill to expand the free meals to the Homer Glen location.
“I am trying to do anything I can to help,” he said Wednesday. “Hopefully it will break up the monotony of what we’re going through.”
Brandon Sisk, one of the Creamery owners, said plans are being worked out, with support from Nelson Ridge Family Dental in New Lenox and Molloy’s agency, to offer free meals at the New Lenox location limited to health care workers and area first responders.
Details of that offer, as well as the meals being provided at Homer Glen and Manhattan, are at the Creamery’s Facebook page.
The three locations are open throughout the year and have dining rooms, although closed for the time being, but are seasonal and see more business as the weather warms up, Sisk said.
The business has been able to avoid layoffs, and although year-over-year sales are down, the sponsorships have helped sustain the restaurants, he said.
Molloy said that with the extension of the school shutdown through April at a minimum, he and Fuessel are committed to staying the course.
“We said that no matter how big it got we would run with this through the end of the school year if needed,” he said.
Families have posted to social media photos of children clutching hot dogs, Molloy and Fuessel said.
“It’s been amazing,” Fuessel said. “It’s definitely heartwarming.”
“I would have never thought that something like a hot dog and fries would make such an impact,” Molloy said.
mnolan@tribpub.com
