Hormel Aiding Local Restaurants and Senior Citizens During Stay-At-Home Order

It’s no secret that during Minnesota’s stay-at-home order, restaurants are struggling. And that includes the iconic Old Mill Restaurant in Austin.

“Without anybody being out – the lunch hours are really slow. Really slow,” said owner Dave Forland.

But the Old Mill and 11 other restaurants in Austin, Minn., are getting some added business from one of their neighbors — The Hormel SPAM^® Museum.

“I think jumping in the forefront of helping where we could – has just been awesome,” said Savile Lord, SPAM^® Museum Manager.

Every weekday, Hormel buys 300 boxed lunches from local restaurants. SPAM^® Museum workers pack them, load them into a SMART Bus and personally deliver them to area seniors like Edna Knobbe.

“I’m going to be 95 years old. And it’s hard to cook for one person. I’m almost like a kid at Christmas. Every day I wonder, what’s coming today?” Knobbe said.

“They just have shown this incredible thanks for being thought of. Because some of these seniors, they don’t get any other interaction during the day. They might get a phone call or two. But this is someone physically coming up to their house on a daily basis who area showing that they are being thought of,” Lord said.

“They drop it off, and I can wave at them from the front window here. It’s just good to see a smiling face,” Knobbe said.

With the SPAM^® Museum closed, deemed a non-essential business, they’re able to do some very essential work to help those in the community who need it.

“That’s where we know we wanted to help. To make sure we could fill as many voids as we could,” Lord said.