Lorees Kitchen and Catering Fundraiser

For those friends, family and clients that know me from Creative Video Corporation, a 23 years old business, will know that I would not be asking for help in a normal world. But as we all know we’re not living in a normal world right now. If you know me, you know I’m a giver, and not prone for asking for help. After surviving a life threatening auto accident while in Chile I had to cut back on my workload as an editor while still trying to make ends meet. Looking for an alternative that would still allow me to keep Creative Video going we decided to fall back on our years of experience in the restaurant business and bought a small restaurant and catering company in Bethel Connecticut, Loree's Kitchen. We were so happy to join a beautiful community in the wonderful town of Bethel. Wishing to dive right in supporting the community we joined the Bethel High School theater fundraising group by cooking meals for the student actors and their families during their all-day rehearsals. We also started supporting the Bethel Library and Chamber of Commerce during the last year. Then the virus struck, and everything changed. Upon the spread of the virus all our future catering jobs were canceled. We suffered another blow after the state mandated that restaurants in Connecticut could only offer pick-up and delivery service. Determined to stick it out we remained open and tried to do our part. Most recently we had been donating hot meals to the healthcare staff at Danbury hospital during these trying times. We tried our best to remain open but the balancing act of money coming in versus our expenses became too burdensome. Sadly, we laid off our wonderful chef Susan and closed our doors with our eyes firmly set on reopening once this terrible pandemic is behind us. Frankly, asking for help is hard for me. Then the wise words “pride comes before the fall” started to creep into my head and I started to think about how I would feel if someone appealed to me and I could help. After hearing about the Vertical Raise program which has switched its operations to supporting restaurants in these tough times we decided to join and hope that the kindness of others would find us. Our goal is to use these funds once we re-open to pay our employees and restock our inventory. Thank you so much for your past support and kindness. Stay safe and strong and we’ll all get through this together. Great news, we are making our Sando Sandwiches next week and donating them to the nurses and doctors of Danbury Hospital and keeping our chef Susan busy, thanks to your donation!! Thank you!! Francisca and Peter Bogdan