Why You Should Take Care of Your Staffs’ Family

Does your staff feel appreciated? Do they know you value them?

Keeping employee morale high is one of the best things you can do for your restaurant. Employees who are happier are more productive and loyal to your business. (tweet this)

To help you maintain a workforce that feels valued and appreciated, we look at why you should take care of your staffs’ family and explore the options available from CORE.

What is CORE?

CORE stands for Children of Restaurant Employees.

This organization helps the children of food and beverage employees when they encounter a life-altering problem.

Families who face problems such as a medical issue, house fire, car accident or even a hurricane, can apply for grants through CORE.

Since 2004, CORE has awarded support to more than 225 families in 30 states with $2.5 million in donations.

CORE relies on COREporate Members and individual donors for their funds.

Why CORE?

Food and beverage employees face overwhelming difficulties when they are unable to work due to a catastrophic event.

As hourly employees who often rely on tips, without an income coming in every week, they struggle to pay their regular bills as well as the new bills related to the life-changing event.

With CORE, you can help the families of your employees during challenging situations.

The CORE Grant

If a food and beverage service employee with a family qualifies for CORE support, they can receive up to $10,000 of support.

Often the biggest needs arrive with medical bills and funeral expenses for children. CORE grants help with these. The grant also provides gas cards, groceries, clothing, medical supplies and therapies, utilities, rent and mortgage payments, and more.

CORE becomes intimately involved with the family and provides the most impactful grant to meet their needs.

Applying for Support

Your food and beverage service employee with children who is navigating a life-altering circumstance can apply for support.

Or, you can refer a family/child for support. Simply fill out the form on the CORE website.

Get Involved with Core

Most CORE donors are COREporate members from corporations, companies, and organizations in the food and beverage service industry.

They would love to have more restaurants involved because it’s a great way to give back to your own employees.

You’ll find several different options for involvement:

• Corporate membership levels start at just $1000 per year. They welcome businesses (and restaurants) of any size. Your annual COREporate membership plays a vital role in helping restarts give back to their own.
• You can also host an event or a promotion right in your own restaurant. Consider a one-time fundraiser for CORE – think dinner and product tastings. Or, you might have an ongoing promotion to help spread awareness and raise money year-round. For example, offer a menu item at a slightly higher price and donate a portion of the cost to CORE.

CORE will also assist you with events, promotions and even materials.

Another great idea is to get your employees involved with CORE. Make sure they know about the organization and can help with fundraising efforts. After all, they just might need CORE one day.

CORE will send you any materials you’d like for your staff as well as your customers to help spread awareness.

Get Involved on a Personal Level

In addition to helping CORE as a restaurant owner, you can also help on a personal level with smaller donations.

Share these ideas with your employees. Not everyone can afford to donate $1000, but many people can afford small one-time donations, and those are incredibly helpful to CORE families.

Check out these options for involvement:

• No donation is too small. For example, CORE says a $25 donation covers the cost of a CORE teddy bear or a TinySuperHeroes cape for a child.
• CORE has monthly Bear-a-Factor Program that allows people to set up monthly, personal donations.
• You can also refer families in the food and beverage service industry. Qualifying events include (but aren’t limited to) medical diagnosis, death of a child or parent, injury, accident, or loss of a home from fire or natural disaster. Sometimes it’s hard for people to ask for help. But, you can step in and take care of the application for your employee.
• Be a CORE Ambassadors and travel around to events on behalf of CORE. You meet families and set up fundraising and awareness opportunities around the country.

Core Family

To conclude, let’s look at a CORE family – mom, dad and four-year old daughter, Charlotte.

Charlotte’s mother worked at a restaurant in Massachusetts.

While Charlotte loves dancing, swimming, music and more, she was diagnosed with a rare birth defect called Esophageal Atresia with Tracheoesophageal Fistula, which means that her esophagus ended in a blind pouch at the top and the lower portion grew into her trachea, causing both her esophagus and trachea to not form correctly.

Charlotte has had more than 20 surgeries and has many problems with swallowing and her stomach.

CORE helped the family enroll Charlotte in a dance class and buy materials for their home so they could create a safe and hygienic space for her.

This is just one example of the good things CORE does for the families of restaurant employees. Check out more stories here.

Final Thoughts

The best thing for your restaurant is to retain your employees, especially those you value.

To do this, you want to not only build employee morale, but you want to take care of your employees in their time of need.

Medical issues, death, accidents, losses from fires or natural disasters can throw your employee’s life into a tailspin that can be hard to recover from. (tweet this)

This is where you, with the assistance of CORE, step in. By knowing about the resources available, you can help your employee navigate scary, life-altering issues.

Guide your employee to CORE so they can receive the assistance they need for medical bills, house payments and more.

Your employees are the “core” of your restaurant. They provide the food and services that make your restaurant shine.

Show your staff you care by introducing them to CORE so they can get the help they need.

With the help of Core, you can give back to your employees showing them you are all one big family and you value and appreciate them.

Have you ever directed one of your employees to CORE? Are you a COREporaate member or ambassador? Ever thought about hosting a fundraising event? Please share your experience below.

Images: Patricia Prudente and Dan Gold on Unsplash