Canes’ Don Waddell and wife providing lunches to 500 sanitation workers
Don Waddell, president and general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, and his wife, Cheryl, are buying approximately 500 lunches for sanitation workers in Raleigh, Durham and Cary.
Jon Chase, executive director of the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation, is organizing the logistics of the effort. He said the Waddells were donating $15 gift cards to 500 of the workers in recognition of their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We talked about what we can do for different organizations and charities and we’ve done some things for other people,” Waddell said in an interview Friday. “We were watching the news and saw the stores about the sanitation workers and how much harder they’re working now and that one had passed away from the virus. We said let’s do something special for them and show some appreciation for what they do for us as a community. They’ve got a pretty big task on their hands.”
Adrian Grubbs, a supervisor in the Raleigh Solid Waste Services Department, died in March from complications related to the coronavirus. Grubbs, 37, was a 17-year employee of the City of Raleigh.
The gift cards are for meals at Bojangles’ and Buffalo Brothers, which also are providing some of the cards, Chase said. They will be distributed early next week.
“In talking with officials in those cities, with social distancing, we’re not able to actually bring them food,” Chase said Friday. “This is for a group of individuals who work incredibly hard, year-round. Now you mix in the COVID-19 challenges.”
