River Heights Chamber Member Tributes
The River Heights Chamber would like to highlight just a sampling of the good deeds its member businesses did to step up during the
COVID-19 pandemic. So many businesses went above and beyond their own business operations. Thank you to all the businesses
who helped the wonderful people of our community stay fed, stay safe and celebrate their achievements - We appreciate all of you!
DARTS, Neighbors Inc. and 360 Communities join forces
to serve more seniors
Older adults are more isolated than ever,
and for many that means they are not
able to get the food and necessities they
need safely. DARTS recognized our unique
advantage to fill this gap: our bus fleet.
With funding from Dakota County and
the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging,
DARTS has repurposed our bus fleet to
mobilize grocery delivery and support local
food shelves.
Every day, our drivers are harnessing
our bus fleet to deliver groceries safely
to older adults who cannot leave their
homes. With the help of local food shelves
like Neighbors Inc., 360 Communities
and Hastings Family Service, DARTS is
delivering boxes of food shelf items to
low-income seniors throughout Dakota
County. Since March 25, we have made
more than 85 deliveries.
In partnership with 360 Communities
and Dakota County CDA, DARTS is also
delivering emergency boxes of food
to low-income seniors in designated
CDA buildings. These boxes are made
available through Hunger Solutions and
Second Harvest Heartland in response
to the COVID-19 crisis. The pre-packed
boxes are picked up by DARTS drivers,
who deliver them to CDA buildings with
low-income older adults in need. DARTS
has served two buildings so far, and we
hope to connect with even more so we
can expand our support of older adults in
our service area.
DARTS has also created a process to take
individual grocery orders by placing them
online and picking them up to deliver to
the older adult who requested the order.
We provided our first service on March 20,
DARTS harnesses bus fleet to deliver groceries to
older adults
and DARTS has made over 25 deliveries
since then.
Our goal at first was to simply fill an urgent
need of older adults for access to food.
We knew that older adults should not
have to suffer a lack of basic necessities
in order to keep themselves safe. Now
that this need is being addressed, DARTS
is working to optimize how we deliver
groceries so it is easier to navigate and is
sustainable enough to continue providing
this service throughout the COVID-19
pandemic and after the crisis has passed.
Mallards Restaurant
The MPX Group
While social distancing measures have
made the past several weeks challenging
for local restaurants, Inver Grove Heights’
vibrant local dining scene continues to
serve the community — and Mallards Restaurant
is the newest addition. Mallards
Restaurant opened its Inver Grove Heights
location right before COVID-19 shook our
community businesses and residents.
In March, during the beginning of the
pandemic, Mallards staff pulled together
to provide free meals to families of employees
in the food/restaurant industry
that were hit hard during the pandemic.
Co-owner David Suddath thought, “what
can we do to help and offer assistance,”
so they went with what they knew best
and that was making good food and
serving the community. “We’ve been flying
through hamburger and pasta,” said
Zachery Suddath, a manager at Mallards,
which has locations in Inver Grove
Heights, Forest Lake and New Richmond,
Wis. “It’s pounds and pounds and pounds
of food.”
18 2020-2021 | South Metro Living
Mallards Restaurant is a family restaurant
in every sense of the term: Suddath’s father
David and mother Gail are co-owners,
and his sister Olivia is also involved in
the business. “We’re excited to be here,”
says general manager Zachery Suddath.
“We’re a family restaurant, and we want to
be a part of the community.”
River Heights Chamber member, The
MPX Group in Golden Valley, hosted
the Yummy Tummy food truck in their
parking lot, on Tuesday, June 9th so
employees could enjoy a free lunch. In
addition to enjoying lunch outside in the
sunshine, they collected bottled water,
non-perishable food items, personal
hygiene products, baby supplies and more
which will be delivered to our Minneapolis
neighbors. The company also matched
donations provided by the employees to
double the impact!