Blue Ribbon donates meals to frontline workers

HURON — Blue Ribbon Catering is serving meals to the people who help the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Huron-based catering company has donated about 700 meals to local hospitals and first responders, including Firelands Regional Medical Center, Sandusky police and Huron fire. "A lot of these people support us throughout the year and we wanted to give back to them," Blue Ribbon owner Melissa Viviano said. Like many businesses, Viviano's catering company took a hit from COVID-19 as it forced large events, which would normally require caters, to cancel. "Having a cap on gatherings and things of that nature hurt us," Viviano said. "We're taking a significant hit in our catering, but we still have clients." Despite seeing a decline in the number of events it caters, Blue Ribbon donated almost all of the meals it provided to the people on the frontline of this pandemic at its own cost. "We'll accept donations if people want to help, but the majority of what we've done has been out-of-pocket," Viviano said. "We've been fortunate to be in a good position to ride out the storm, and we'd like to give back to the community." Blue Ribbon has committed to doing meals at Firelands Regional Medical Center for four-to-six weeks. It has received positive feedback about its meals. "A lot of people are commenting on Facebook about how good everything is," Viviano said. "We're known for our homemade meals."