Dave Bloom, owner of PineAire Truck has always been committed to helping his community. He wanted to show how much he appreciates the nurses in his area of Nassau and Suffolk counties New York during COVID-19. So, he had an idea, but Dave had no idea how it would take off nationally.
It began with the goal of wanting to recognize nurses, but he wanted to include supporting local businesses. How do you do both at the same time? Dave’s plan was to have people post on the PineAire Facebook page the name of their favorite nurse - anyone could post a name including the nurse themselves. Winners would be picked out of a hat every Friday and they would receive a $100.00 gift certificate from their favorite restaurant. End result – a dedicated nurse and a terrific local restaurant are both featured. Dave thought he would pick one winner each week of April. Four nurses and four restaurants.
But over the four-week period the PineAire nurse appreciation program grew beyond what Dave Bloom thought it would. What started out as a great way to feature one nurse and one restaurant once a week, grew from 3 nurses the first week, 7 nurses the second 18 the third week and 22 nurses by the fourth week. And keep in mind that a different local restaurant is promoted along with each nurse recognition.
Local New York business started to contribute the cost of the gift certificates. Dave ended up giving away $5,000.00 to 50 deserving nurses.
And it didn’t stop there. During the month of April, other businesses across the country picked up on the program and started adapting it for their own community. This viral campaign to recognize nurses and local restaurants that began as a local fun-but-effective way to acknowledge nurses has now grown to over 15 states including Iowa, Colorado and Indiana – and Dave’s idea continues to expand.
From the first post on Facebook, Dave encouraged anyone anywhere to pick-up the concept and do the same thing or adapt for their own city.
At this point, the PineAire Truck nurse’s appreciation plan has recognized hundreds of nurses and local restaurants.
“In the midst of this crisis, we wanted to show appreciation for the nurses who have been putting themselves on the frontlines as well as local restaurants that have been hit hard by COVID-19” says Dave Bloom. “I encourage any business to take this idea and make it their own to say thank you to nurses, or any first responders in your area.”
DRIVE is proud to have PineAire as a client and felt it was our duty to highlight what Dave has accomplished as we celebrate the birthday of Florence Nightingale on May 12th as National Nurses Week concludes.
This truly shows how one person's desire to give back can become bigger than what was imagined. #drivetogether
