Dec 17, 2020

Toys at Takeout

Bring A Gift For Restaurant Worker’s Children This Week When You Get Takeout

Every year in December, Restaurateur and Philanthropist John Morris hosts a toy drive at his Boathouse on the Bay restaurant. He provides free lunch to anyone who brings a toy or gift for an under-privileged youth member of the community. He may not personally know the children those toys go to, but he knows that those toys make a difference in working family’s lives, having come from humble beginnings himself. He also understands that many of his regular customers can afford and enjoy the charitable donation.

But this year he won’t be hosting the toy drive and free buffet. He can’t. His restaurant is completely shutdown and not setup to offer “takeout” food as an upscale waterfront destination.

So this year he’s campaigning for a different kind of toy drive that does not involve his restaurant at all. It involves all the other ones.

Through his own social media and The Boathouse’s, Morris is urging thousands of residents across Long Beach to consider getting a takeout meal with their family three times a week for the rest of December as struggling restaurants fight to keep their doors open during this latest COVID-19 surge.

“And make sure you’re picking it up from them directly,” Morris says, “Most people don’t realize that those delivery services like Door Dash and Postmates take more money than the restaurants do. They barely make anything off those deliveries.”

But that’s not all. The takeout meals will help chip away at the struggling restaurant owners’ bills and perhaps a few employees. But it doesn’t begin to cover the losses being experienced by restaurant workers around town from cooks, to servers, to bussers, who are unemployed this holiday season and not seeing anything close to the tips and wages they usually make this time of year.

For that reason, Morris is urging restaurant patrons this December to bring a toy or children’s clothing item with them when they get their takeout meals and donate it to a child of a furloughed restaurant worker.

It doesn’t matter what restaurant you go to. Any of them in Long Beach…all of them are struggling and all of them have had to lay off their workers during these shutdowns. So head to your neighborhood restaurant and take a gift with you!

It is an exceedingly tough year for these employees. Maybe we can all make Christmas Day with the family a little easier.

Make Sure to Shop Local!

Even Better? BUY LOCAL GIFTS!! Here’s a few great local places to support and buy children’s toys and clothes:

1) Young Ones Kids Resale Store: yokidsresale.com

2) The Shop Sunkissed: theshopsunkissed.com

3) Better Half Boutique

4) Blue Windows: bluewindows.net

5) Pixie Toys:

6) Los Alamitos Kids Resale

7) Precious Life Shelter Thrift Shop

8) Fern’s Garden

9) Romance Etc.