SIMPSON, Pa. — Curbside pickup is the only option for many restaurants in Pennsylvania right now. From the looks of it, Frank's Place was very busy with orders around lunchtime on Tuesday, but the place near Simpson isn't making a dime on this effort.
Pasta meals were handed out for free.
"There's lots of people who are losing their houses and don't have any food on the table, and I think it's very nice for somebody to do this," Linda Gongliewski said.
Whenever the restaurant has been shut down due to state COVID-19 restrictions, Frank's Place has served close to 40,000 free meals to help out others also financially impacted by the pandemic.
"We're here to pick up family dinner for our friends who are going through a tough time right now," Tony Melovitz said.
"We had a blow out on our stove, so no stove, no way to cook, and they're just terrific people doing this," said Matt Vandunk.
Owner Frank Cerminaro says, make no mistake, he's had a tough go of it this year, but in helping others, he believes it all comes back around.
"We can help out a little bit. The community's been great to us over the years. They've been great for us the whole pandemic. We were super busy in the summer, and so we're just going to do what we got to do," Cerminaro said.
Frank's Place is taking preorders for free meals every day leading up to Christmas and maybe longer if COVID-19 shutdowns continue.
"I don't know how long we're going to do this. We'll see, but I'd like to get to 50,000 meals, kind of a goal for us."