Photo by Peter Silvia of Brick Alley Pub
Brick Alley Pub has announced that they have received the National Restaurant Association’s “Restaurant Neighbor Award” for community service in Rhode Island.
Fifteen years ago, the National Restaurant Association’s Educational Foundation joined American Express to create the Restaurant Neighbor Award. The award promotes restaurants’ roles as cornerstones of their communities, and it highlights their efforts to improve quality of life.
The 2015 national recipients of the Restaurant Neighbor awards were selected from 129 engaged, charitable state winners.
In Rhode Island, Brick Alley Pub and Gregg’s Restaurants and Pubs were honored.
Here’s what the National Restaurant Association had to say about Brick Alley Pub;
“Brick Alley works with several local organizations each year, but one of its main community service programs is the Mary Gomes Memorial Foundation. The organization is named after one of the restaurant’s most beloved employees, who was without health insurance when she became ill. “In an effort to help, the Brick Alley family designed and created The Mary Gomes Foundation to help Mary with the overwhelming task of keeping up with her mounting medical bills,” says Rory Hennessey, culture curator. The owners of the restaurant donated every penny earned on the first event, “Mary Day.” The kitchen staff also donated their pay, and the front-of the-house employees donated all tips.
The Foundation also organized a golf tournament to help in the cause, but in the end Mary Gomes lost her battle with cancer. In an effort to honor her memory the Mary Gomes Memorial Foundation is still operating, and is run 100 percent by volunteers, many of who work at the restaurant. “Brick Alley continues to host the golf tournament every September to raise money in an effort to support local community members who are in need of financial assistance,” says Hennessey. Additionally the restaurant donates hundreds of pounds of food to the Newport MLK Center through its annual Christmas drive, and also organizes a yearly ‘Keep Newport Clean’ community service day.”
Brick Alley Pub shared the news on their blog on Thursday;
“From day one – and for the 35 years since – Pat and Ralph Plumb have prioritized being a positive, active member in the Newport community. From sponsoring Little League Teams to organizing Blood and Food Drives to our Mary Gomes Memorial Foundation, supporting our Newport neighbors has been and will continue to be our focus.”
Congrats to the Ralph, Pat, Matt and the rest of the Brick Alley Pub team on this well deserved honor!