Amanda Villosio is the President of the Colorado Bartenders Guild. During the shutdown from the Covid19 pandemic, Amanda and many others were laid off from their job working in the restaurant industry. The Guild launched a Colorado Family Plan which provided three meals, twice weekly for those who signed up for the program. In these troubling times, it was crucial to establish what could be done to assist others and how to come together as a community. Amanda’s first thought was, “There are many kitchens that are empty, and a huge number of service and hospitality colleagues are out of work. For those who would normally be eating at restaurants, we need a program to assist individuals who don’t normally cook but need a means to receive healthy food.”
The program was extremely successful and mobilized numerous hospitality workers to provide over 2,000 meal per week! Amanda proudly says, “My team members are the heroes. To me every single person that volunteered and assisted with the program was my hero. Getting volunteers together in the middle of a pandemic is very difficult and everyone is worried about their own health and safety, but they continued to show up every day to make this a success. The small acts of kindness are just as grand.” She was truly inspired by the compassionate and generous attitude of her industry, saying, “I find new inspiration through people every day. Everyone in the industry has come together to help each other and it’s been the biggest drive and inspiration for me. Everyone immediately stepped up and asked ‘what can we do for other people’, and that has been a huge inspiration.”
When asked what a person can do to be a community hero, Amanda says, “Random acts of kindness can make someone smile. If you have made someone’s day better, they’re going to turn around and want to do the same for someone else.”
