St. James’s Children’s Center works with SaveRVARestaurants and Perly’s

Weezie Beckley РThank you for sending those wonderful pictures. Could you share with me more information about SaveRVARestaurants? 

Diahann Whittington – Director of Saint James’s Children Center¬†– We were connected through Toby Desch, whose friend Brock Saunders was trying to help local restaurants and families in need at the same time.¬† Nicci Porter is my connection with SaveRVARestaurants. She contacts me when she has a restaurant that are willing to prepare the food and I pick it up. This is our second pick up with them. The Children’s Center purchased additional meals from Perly’s so that we could also offer meals to our staff as a conclusion to teacher appreciation week.¬†The first restaurant we were paired with was Lehja. I¬†picked up those meals from the Short Pump location.¬† Winnie and I delivered those to our families in all of the surrounding counties.

Weezie Beckley – Are you given a list of restaurants to choose from?

Diahann Whittington – No, we are not given a choice of restaurants.

Weezie Beckley – How many lunches did Perly’s provide? How many folks did you have signed up to receive the lunches?¬†¬†

Diahann Whittington – Perly’s provided us with 80 lunches and we purchased an additional 20. We have 24 families sign up to receive meals.

Weezie Beckley – How has this opportunity made you feel?

Diahann Whittington – Our parents allow us to play a major role in the lives of their children and I don’t take that lightly.¬†They have had so many challenges over these past weeks that it is such a gift to my soul when we are able to give to them.¬†There is a need and we are doing our best to be good stewards of the blessings that come our way through the kindness of others.¬†I am really happy that I had the opportunity see smilies on the parents faces. I love being in service to their children and I cannot say enough how wonderful it was to have such good people by your side helping make the day a little brighter for a parent.¬† As a mom, I know that sometimes a decision like dinner can be major depending on how my day has gone.¬†I am grateful to Perly’s that today, with their gift, we gave our families one less thing to worry about.

Weezie Beckley – What was your experience like working with Perly’s?¬†

Diahann Whittington – Perly’s was awesome to work with. In the future when we are ordering lunches, for staff trainings, they will be at the top of our list.

*St. James’s Children Center¬†begun as an outreach of St. James’s Episcopal Church. Each year the Children’s Center receives gifts, including classroom space and utilities, from St. James’s Church.¬†