When Dawn Sweatt, a partner at San Jose law firm Berliner Cohen, tried to teach her two young sons a lesson about compassion and generosity, they managed to surprise her.
With the family sheltered-in-place, her sons Colton, 10, and Hayden, 9, wanted to make in-app purchases on their iPads while gaming with their friends. When their mom said no because money around the house was tight, they countered with a plan to empty their piggy banks and spend their own cash. If they were so eager to spend their money, she volleyed back, maybe they maybe figure out a way to use their money to help the people around them fighting coronavirus.
And the boys did just that, hatching a plan to spend their money not on games but meals — for firefighters, law enforcement officers and healthcare workers. The boys emptied their banks, rolled their coins, counted the bills and came up with a grand total: $529.
As the plan came together, Sweatt started calling restaurants to see if any could help, and Steve Angelo, owner of Purple Onion Cafe in Los Gatos, was thrilled by the idea. He said he would not only provide the meals, but for every two meals the boys bought, he’d throw in a third on the house.
The family picked up the first set of 10 meals to take to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office in Cupertino on Wednesday morning. They will next deliver 10 meals to San Jose Fire Station No. 30 on Auzerais Avenue and then 30 meals next week to a hospital.
