March 9
March 10
March 11
WVU suspends classes after March 13 State nursing homes restrict visitors
World Health Organization declares a pandemic
he evening of Thursday, March 12, Justin Byers was unwinding on the couch in front of the police drama Deputy . The kids were in bed, and his wife, Kari, flipping through
Facebook, saw a mention that West Virginia might close the schools to slow the spread of this new virus. Knowing a lot of students need their school lunches, she wondered aloud how kids would get fed. Feeding people is something the couple thinks about, as owners of the restaurant Bartini Prime in Suncrest Towne Centre. If you haven’t eaten there, you’ve noticed it—it’s the one with Clyde the Camel standing out front. Byers had already been watching the COVID-19 virus’s progress in China. He’d even called his banker several weeks earlier to discuss what would happen if it were to spread and affect cash flow at Bartini Prime and his other businesses. So when the World Health Organization declared the virus a pandemic on Wednesday, March 11, the couple went on alert. If the schools closed, they knew, restaurants wouldn’t be far behind. “Then we just started talking about it,” Byers says. “‘We’re going to have food; let’s feed the kids.’ We talked about how we’d do it.” It’s been a short, sharp shock, but now we know: When a pandemic that we’re completely unprepared for rumbles through, people getting sick is only the epicenter. What we do to slow it down and the havoc that causes ripples out ahead in all directions. And in that ripple, people step up with workarounds, generosities, and unsuspected talents to get everyone through it together with grace and humor. Morgantown magazine looked for those bright spots, and they were easy to find. Getting kids fed Friday morning—the 13th—Byers posted on Bartini Prime’s Facebook page that, if the schools did close, the restaurant would provide free boxed lunches on Tuesdays
and Thursdays. About that same time, Governor Jim Justice was announcing that the schools would, in fact, close. Within minutes, other Morgantown restaurants chimed in: Crab Shack Caribba, Get Fit Juices & Shakes, Scorers Sports Bar & Restaurant, and Mountain State Brewing Company quickly offered kids weekday lunches. The governor soon came out to assure families that schools would provide lunch during the shut-down, but more than a dozen restaurants across town joined in that weekend anyway to be part of the solution. Uber, Lyft, and other delivery drivers asked how they could help. Monday, March 16 kicked off a week of free lunches for kids all across town. “Our cooks reported to their normal work sites and prepared food there,” says Monongalia County Schools Operations Officer Beth Harvey. “They set up on the sidewalk, and people would pull up and they would hand them a bag lunch or as many as they
People come for the atmosphere— we don't think the carryout’s going to be super big. So as food gets close to spoiling, we’re just going to cook it and serve it. These kids might get a filet mignon.” JUSTIN BYERS Bartini Prime
54 wvl • the community issue 2020
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker