Gourmet Advisory Services teamed up with HRK's The Chosen Few, a collection of luxury service providers, as well as Zitomer Landmark Pharmacy & Department Store to assemble holiday care packages for the essential workers.
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They handed out 800 of those packages Thursday, a party in a blue tote bag.
"As event planners, what we really wanted to do is host an event for them," Gourmet Advisory's Claudia Wagner said. "And because we can't now, this is the closest thing that we could do to honor them."
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Wagner and Melissa Rosenbloom run Gourmet Advisory. We met them last March as they initially felt the pinch of the pandemic.
And save for a few micro events this summer, their business remains decimated. And yet, they and their vendors wanted to host the event to thank their local hospital.
"How they get up every day and go into work, this is their mission," Rosenbloom said. "We hope this gives them one little bit of happiness and so they know they're appreciated."
Each bag had snacks, sanitizers and various goodies from several vendors, but the sentiment was the most important part.
"Just seeing people happy and getting a little thank you is inspiring and encouraging," Lenox Hill dispatcher Victoria Wood said. "Because we've been through a lot."
And they continue to go through a lot, with patient counts -- and anxiety -- on the rise.
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Interim Chief Nursing Officer Cathy Fogarty oversees all the nurses, who have helped the more than 2,000 patients admitted with COVID-19.
"Having an event like this, supporting our staff, showing our staff the support, giving them these little treats, these bags mean so much," she said. "It's an uplifting period of the day, and it's so appreciated."
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It's just a little sustenance to hopefully help them get through the next pandemic wave.
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