Saddleback BBQ's COVID Timeline

 

 

A video featuring everything we did for Covid in 2020

 

  • March 13th - Schools in Michigan were shut down for the remainder of the year. This meant school lunch programs that students rely on would be temporarily canceled. Saddleback and the community stepped up to help out. Together we were able to donate over 1000 meals to students in need. 
  • March 18th - A ban was placed on dine in services for restaurants in Michigan. Saddleback put together a website with a list of all the local restaurants that were remaining open, and advertised to have the list reach more people. We updated the website weekly to ensure the information was accurate. In the end, it helped over 50,000 people find information about restaurants. 
  • April 2nd - A surge in Covid cases led to an overwhelmed healthcare system. Once again the Saddleback community stepped up and together we were able to donate over 200 meals to first responders. 
  • April 5th - Grocery stores were beginning to run out of essential supplies (gloves, masks, cleaning supplies, etc.). As a way to help we began to sell these items to the community. 
  • April 7th - As a way to bring hope to the Lansing community, we partnered with Taproot Picture to make a website and video that celebrated the Lansing community, called Lansing Strong. We paid to have the video advertised on local television stations and social media. 
  • April 10th - We realized the negative effects Covid was having on local artists. We offered a free “livestream concert” of Rachel Curtis. This was a way to help a local artist make money and give the community some entertainment. 
  • Kingsford recognized our work in the community and awarded us with a grant of $10,000 to help us continue our initiatives. 
  • April 29th - It became clear students wouldn’t be able to have a traditional graduation ceremony. We wanted to honor the students to do so we purchased 5 billboards in the Lansing area to celebrate students. 
  • May 23rd - Midland was hit with a massive flood. We were able to raise over $1,400 to donate to help rebuild Midland. 
  • August 6th - Ingham County’s annual fair was canceled, which meant these kids would not be able to sell the livestock they had worked so hard to raise. Saddleback was able to purchase $6,700 worth of livestock to help support the children’s college funds. 
  •  November 24th - It became clear this would not be an ordinary Thanksgiving. As the second surge hit, it meant people would not all people be able to be with their loved ones for the holiday. Saddleback and the community came together and was able to donate meals for over 900 people in need. 
  • December 10th - We helped a local bakery (Mitten Raised) that was struggling and ended up helping them sell out of food for weeks! VIDEO
  • January 23rd - We worked on a campaign with Coachs Pub and Grill, we purchased a whole hog and smoked it at their restaurant, we also paid for advertising to help drive business to their store.
  • March 30th - Saddleback Co-Owners, with the help of donations from the community, paid off school lunch debt for 9 different local school districts. 
  • April 6th - We offered Free Pork Rinds to anyone that showed us their vaccination card.
  • April 21st - We offered $100 to Employees that received the vaccination.
  • July 26th - We received a letter from Governor Whitmer thanking us for our work in the community throughout the pandemic. 
  • August 1st - Saddleback began raising money for our 4H fund. In exchange for donating we provided Saddleback Gift Cards of equal value of their donations (i.e. if someone donated $50, we sent them a $50 Gift Card. 
  • August 2nd - We started a GoFundMe for 7 local businesses who were victims of a recent string of break ins and vandalism. We set a goal of $1,000, after 3 days we had reached over $8,600! 
  • September 1st - We were lucky enough to be featured in an article by Business Insider! 

 

We will continue to update this list as events occur. Thank you to the community without which none of this would be possible. Stay strong.