GEORGETOWN, Texas — Supporting the community, it's what many restaurants do when they can. But in times like this, it's the restaurants that need the community's help.
That's because many restaurants in Central Texas are just not as busy these days.
"We didn't know what to do," explained Nels Johnson, the owner of two restaurants in Georgetown. "That unknown is the biggest fear we just play it by ear and adjust."
Johnson owns two restaurants in Sun City – the retirement community in Georgetown – Wrigley's and Mulligans.
"Mulligans, it's usually crowded every night but I don't know how long it's going to take before we have 100 people sitting side by side listening to karaoke or a band, we don't know," he said.
But for the community around him, the unknown wasn't an option.
"The people of Sun City are amazing, absolutely amazing," said Trudy Glackin, a Sun City resident.
Glackin has a Facebook group of people in the community. She had the idea of raising money through a bucket brigade.
"We put it out there thinking it would be around seven, eight-thousand dollars, and we were shocked. I called Nels and said we kind of almost hit our goal on day one," she said.
Every day, thousands of dollars coming in to support the restaurants. The bucket alone collected over $52,000.
"That doesn't count checks that came in afterwards," she said. "From some of these charter clubs that he has helped or people that used to live here that heard about it and know what he has meant to the community ... and the residents of Sun City blew us away."
"But it was just outstanding," said Johnson. "Besides the bucket brigade, people have been giving hundreds of dollars to our employees time and time again so I have no idea how much money we really raised."
Keeping the employees paid, and ensuring the restaurant can stay open.
"It gets us through August or so and then we see what happens after that. Hopefully, we're back in business. If not, we'll adjust," said Johnson. "It's been pretty amazing."
All from the support of the community he serves.
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