Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 3/10/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow restaurant Center Square Grill hosted a fundraiser to help raise money for the people of Texas from Feb. 20 to 21. Money raised went toward water and supplies needed to get individuals through the state’s recent climate disaster.
Center Square Grill Owner Bill Collins stated on the restaurant’s Facebook page, “The Collins Family will match what we raise up to $1,000. We have learned how important it is to stick together during tough times and our fellow Texans need all the help right now. Let’s pay it forward together!”
Collins shared with Reminder Publishing, “We’ve been continuing on the effort because we didn’t raise as much as we had hoped to. With everything going on down there, we felt the need to do our share. We’ve been one of the very fortunate restaurants in this area to remain successful through the pandemic. I feel it’s my duty as a person to give back when people are in need. I saw an opportunity to do so, and said why not do it.”
Center Square Grill has been in business for seven years. They are a creative American restaurant that specializes in steak, seafood and homemade pastas. Collins was managing Spoleto Restaurant group, which had seven locations and was working with Claudio Guerra, the original owner of the space. He explained he wanted to have his own business and made an offer to buy the place. Even during the pandemic, Collins said the restaurant has been extremely busy and is very fortunate to be operating in East Longmeadow.
Collins talked about an organization called “Good Work Austin” running a program called the “Safe Table” where they partner with local restaurants to prepare 700 to 1,000 meals a week for the elderly who are having problems accessing food, and even more so during this pandemic.
“We’re going to send a check to Good Work Austin to support their meals program which is getting meals to people that are facing systemic issues, but also facing issues on the catastrophe that’s happening down there with peoples’ houses being destroyed,” responded Collins. “They start with elderly and move on from there, but again they’re whole machine supports a whole other industry as well because not only they’re just providing meals to those people, they’re supporting local restaurants by buying the meals through the local restaurants for those people.”
He saw it as a good measure to be able to support a group that was not only feeding people that were in need, but also supporting local restaurants during this tough time. In being an operator, Collins said he’s seeing a lot of different operators struggle through these times, and noted that doing anything he can do to support other people in his industry is important to him.
Since Center Square Grill started doing the fundraiser, Collins has had some of his close friends join in, such as Tim Percoski of Reclamations & Creations in Somers, CT. Percoski offered to make 10 unique handmade wooden cutting boards with different wood.
“I said to him if you’re going to make these beautiful cutting boards in addition to doing the match we’re doing, why don’t we offer a steak that we can add on to the cutting boards. We’ll double the price of cutting boards and we’ll essentially be able raise more money that my family will match me at,” explained Collins.
Then, Jason McDonald of MDN Consulting LLC in East Longmeadow also offered to match up to $1,000, and the Maple Valley Creamery of Hadley offered to donate $500 to the cause.
Center Square Grill is scratching the surface at a $1,000 mark, which would then be matched by $1,000 from MDN Consulting and then $500 from Maple Valley. At this point, Collins said, they’re up around $2,500. Then, his family is going to do a match of up to $1,000 and they should be writing a check from somewhere around $3,500.
“We try and be as philanthropic as possible. I’m a firm believer in that you get what you give and for us we’re a very well supported restaurant so we’re going to continue supporting local and national charities that mean something to us,” Collins expressed.
He hopes a small effort that is spearheaded by his manager Kristin Minchonski is going to bring some warm meals and some comfort to people that have had a difficult time.
“East Longmeadow and surrounding communities are doing a small part to make sure that businesses and people throughout the country are supported,” Collins concluded. If there was ever a time to be a person that’s out there fighting for people, it’s today. This is a tough time for a lot of people and we’re proud to be in the position to support people in need.”
If community members would like to be part of the Center Square Grill donation, call the restaurant directly at 525-0055 or email kristinm.csg@gmail.com. If an individual would like to donate to Good Work Austin on their own, go to goodworkaustin.org where there’s a donate now button. Center Square Grill is located at 84 Center Sq. in East Longmeadow.