The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the title of a 1966 Western film starring Clint Eastwood.  It’s also the title of today’s segment:

The Good-   Sam Eltouky put his heart, soul and money into opening Roots Lounge Organic Eatery & Coffee Bar in the Silverton section of Toms River in December of 2019.  The personable owner even made his own tables inside the restaurant which is located on Hinds Road right next to Brooklyn Square Pizza.

Of course Sam did not know that three months after opening the doors a pandemic would hit and even though he does a lot of take-out and delivery business the past year has been a challenge.  So when he heard about a new charitable effort aimed at helping small businesses in New Jersey like his he decided to apply for financial support. Last Friday Vinnie Brunetti the founder of NJ4NJ presented Sam with the very first grant to help Roots Lounge navigate through some of the challenges many small companies are still having.   Brunetti and a group of colleagues started the charitable organization as a true “pay it forward” effort and for more on how you can apply for assistance or help others visit www.nj4nj.com.  By the way the menu at Roots Lounge looks amazing and I told Sam I’m coming back soon for a burger.

The Bad- More and more people in New Jersey are getting vaccinated BUT COVID-19 numbers have been on the rise for the last week or so and Governor Murphy has made it clear that he will not be relaxing any additional restrictions in the near future.  While I know many will cast doubt on the sudden rise in positive cases but numbers don’t lie…or do they?