BY KAREN BOSSISCK

Since the coronavirus began wrapping its tentacles around the Wood River Valley, Keith and Paul Perry have been besieged with calls from patrons wanting to send food from the restaurant to hospital workers.

Initially, they were rebuffed as the hospital was not accepting outside food.

But, as it became apparent hospital employees were getting stretched to the max, St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation stepped up, purchasing food from local restaurants to feed those staffing the walk-in clinic, the emergency department and the drive-through testing.

Now, Perry’s Restaurant has found a new way for the community to show their appreciation to those on the front lines with the help of a Sun Valley Community School teacher.

Megan Mahoney, known for her Pixie Dust parties, is working with the Perrys to set up a First Responders Account.

The account will provide firemen, police and paramedics with gift cards to Perry’s for nutritious meals. And at the same time, Mahoney figured, it would give her favorite restaurant some business.

She posted her idea on Facebook over the weekend, asking those who would like to donate to do so by calling Perry’s at 208-726-7703. And people started giving money. Among them, the Perrys’ new son-in-law, a firefighter himself.

“He gave $250. Then his dad, who is a fire chief in Phoenix, gave money. And all of a sudden we were up to $2,000,” said Keith Perry.

First responders can redeem the gift cards for the take-out dinners the restaurant is serving from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. One is Pan-seared Atlantic Salmon sautéed in white wine and olive oil with two jumbo shrimp served with saffron rice. The other: Pan-seared Chicken Breast sautéed in white wine and olive oil with Peruvian spices and served with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes.

“We’re sending them out the door rare so you can microwave them for three and a half minutes and they come out perfect,” said Keith Perry, who is also providing baskets of cookies and sandwiches to first responders.

The opportunity is a blessing for a restaurant, which is doing just 20 percent of the business it would normally be doing at this time.

“It’s scary because you can’t operate on that,” said Keith Perry. “We pay our bills from February with the money that comes in March. And, when that goes to nothing, it’s so hard. Fortunately, we are still getting a little business—like the woman who came in today and got two pancakes to go for breakfast, along with a salmon dinner for dinner.”

No one at the restaurant has exhibited any symptoms of COVID-19. And the Perrys are trying to keep it that way.

“We’re doing everything we can from offering curbside delivery to sanitizing every half-hour to keep people safe,” said Keith Perry.

The First Responders Account is just one example of how the community is stepping up to take care of one another as coronavirus pandemic has turned life in the valley upside down.

• The Blaine County School District is handing out free lunches and books.
• Two dozen lawyers are offering free services to health care workers and others on the front lines of the pandemic.
• Drew and Leah Merklinghaus, who founded the Moonshine Boutique, are rolling out T-shirts with messages like “I’m not anti-social. I’m practicing safe socializing” to raise money for The Hunger Coalition. One of the tees, available at www.holidaybrandtees.com, features Yosemite Sam, his guns drawn, warning, “Back Off-6 Feet Please.”

  Another says, “I’d love to but…I’m on house arrest.” There are “Social Distancing” crews featuring a solitary skier staring into the sun and “A Ketchum Kindness” crew. Also, a “Shelter at Home” tee showing tents and RVs strategically placed around the Sawtooth National Forest.

• A youngster named Cooper Evans has started what he calls “The Ketchum Kindness Project.”

  “Ways I can Help,” he writes:

  “I can deliver groceries/shop for u.

  I can get your mail/packeges (sic).

  I can deliver take out.”

  I can pick up prescriptions.

  I can also walk your dogs.

  For your safety, items will be left on porch and I will use plastic gloves. I am also collecting food and money donations for The Hunger Coalition to help those who are food insecure,” wrote the youngster, who is doing all this for free.

• The Blaine County Sheriff handed off a mini-poodle named Benji to a 9-year-old Bellevue girl named Lupita, who is undergoing chemo treatments. The little girl had requested a puppy through Make a Wish Foundation but they were unable to deliver it into Blaine County because of the isolation order. So, deputies retrieved the dog and presented it to the girl, along with a gift basket of dog treats and puppy toys.
• High school students involved in I Have a Dream Foundation are establishing pen pal relations with seniors who may be isolated and lonely, said Leslie Silva, a volunteer with The Senior Connection.

  “They will laminate letters and pictures so they can be wiped free of germs and delivered without any worries,” she added.

• And the Croy Canyon Fund announced Monday afternoon that they were awarding $4,845 in cash grants to benefit Blaine County seniors at this time.

This tax-exempt endowment fund was created by the former Croy Canyon Ranch Foundation to provide grants to local non-profit organizations to assist with meeting the physical, medical, spiritual and educational needs of Blaine County seniors.

“Given the impact of the COVID-19 virus affecting the valley and the strain put on local organizations to provide food for those most in need, the Croy Canyon Fund board felt that it was imperative for funds to go out immediately to the Senior Connection and the Blaine County Hunger Coalition, rather than wait for grant applications to arrive later in the year,” said Kathleen Eder, executive director of the fund.

The Hunger Coalition was awarded $2,420 to help provide meals for seniors. The Senior Connection received a $2,425 grant to assist with Meals on Wheels and a Longevity Summit.

The funds are welcome at the Senior Connection, which has doubled the number of meals it’s shipping out through its Meals on Wheels program during the pandemic.

“We’re delighted because it means more seniors are staying home at this time,” said one staff member.

Mary Austin Crofts is among those who says she’s found her purpose at this time in checking in with friends and family that she might not have talked with in a while.

“I have a phone and it still works,” she said. “Calling is therapeutic and people are grateful to hear from me. It’s so good to say, ‘What do you need? Can I help you?’,” she said. “The Senior Connection is closed and that’s a big social thing here. And this whole thing is a scary thing. But we’re coming together and that’s what we should be doing—being people who are coming together.”