By Bill Melver
We are now into week six of this pandemic crisis but still coming to grips with many new ways in which folks are dealing with things we’ve never experienced before. Many of these news and revelations are truly sad and for most of us, we feel useless in trying to do something, anything to help those that are on the front lines, battling daily. I continue to pray for them. One thing we can do is help with our wallets. I’m told, most of us will be receiving some unexpected income as part of the Federal economic stimulus legislation and many of you, who’ve lost your jobs depend on this money. But for some of us retired and managing with our social security checks can donate back some of this stimulus money where it can do the most good. I just received a request from the Akron Canton Regional Food Bank. Before all this hit our community, I use to volunteer at their monthly community distribution days that I can no longer so I will be sending them a small check. I read, their lines at the Food Bank have tripled in recent weeks!!
But humans are creative creatures and we are all hoping and doing what we can to get through this thing and I’m encouraged to see some glimmer of hope that we have turned the corner. Some have even shared a sense of humor and I take delight in reading them. Recently, I read a post of someone who said, “When this is all over, I can’t decide which to go first – weight watchers or the AA?”. I’m sure, with all of us, hunkered down in our homes, we’re eating and drinking more and better stuff. I read that alcoholic beverage sales are enjoying a robust increase in sales. One of our friends posted a romantic photo of the couple, enjoying a glass of wine over a table setting, complete with candles on Facebook. Then a mutual friend, not to be out done, posted a similar picture, clinking martinis. My son-in-law celebrated a birthday this week but with no typical dinner out, his three children – our grandchildren insisted they have a date night so they prepared a romantic candlelight dinner and served them to multi course dinner, all prepared by the three of them. Now that’s priceless!!
I’m also delighted to find out some success stories. Recall in my last week’s column, I scheduled Thursday’s dinner was to be “Zuppa di Clam”. So that morning, I called Klein’s seafood to see if they were open for business – whenever I do this dish, I try to get fresh clams from Kleins. The phone rang and rang – no answer and my heart sank. I waited an hour, then called again – same result. So, I decided to go to their website to discover that they have new, special hours during this COVID 19 thing. Obviously, they must be open, I concluded and made the drive across town to South Grant Street. There were at least six cars parked around the store and a large hand printed sign on the entrance, “Limit to only ten customers at a time”. The place was bustling. I got my clams plus a swordfish steak and some jumbo sea scallops. As I was being checked out by Kurt, the owner, I said, did you know your phone isn’t working – no one answered, when I called this morning, to which he replied, we’ve been too busy to answer the phone. He went on to say, his shipments are still coming in as usual, although some of the fishermen aren’t going out but for the time being, folks are coming in and enjoying the fresh fish they offer every day. It was reassuring to know, some things are still continuing as normal, and our Zuppa di Clam was delicious, as always. My grandmother use to say, if you want to know how fresh a fish is, you have to see their eyes – it must be clear, not cloudy. Kleins is the best place in town that one can do that.
I also wanted to mention a special thanks to governor DeWine for his leadership in this unprecedented time of hardship and disaster. We Ohioans are fortunate, he and his team acted quickly and with focused authority to limit the effects of the coronavirus.
Bill Melver
Akron, Ohio
“Bill Melver is an interesting local personality, having founded the Akron Life & Leisure Magazine in 2002, ran for mayor of Akron in 2015 and now an aspiring author with his first book “An American Samurai: Born to Righteousness”, will be released soon. You can also learn more about Bill on his website www.BillMelver.com
