29: Hamid Chaudhry

Owner, Wyomissing Restaurant & Bakery

Hamid is married. His wife is a doctor and they have two teenage children at home.

His uncle and sister died from COVID and he himself knows of at least 50 others who have had it. He and his wife insisted that both locations he owns strictly follow CDC recommended guidelines. He says he became the “Enforcer in Chief” of COVD guidelines at work- plexiglass was installed as needed, masks are worn, lots of hand sanitizing or glove-wearing was done, all to prevent the spread of the virus.

When the shutdown was enforced, he not only gave away all the cooler, perishable, food he had, but he also bought pallets of additional food, then gave it away as well. He knew of food distributors not being able to sell to restaurants because they now were closed. So, he bought the food and gave it to food banks, families in need, and the boys and girls clubs.

When they did open up again, he saw customers giving much larger than usual tips to help support the staff. These are workers who could have stayed home and collected unemployment but didn’t. They were loyal to him and were rewarded by generous clients. Hamid is very proud of his staff.

A change he sees in himself through all of this is his renewed sense of mortality. Live one day at a time and be careful with your health.

For the future, he hopes the sense of personal hygiene remains. He normally gets 2 bad colds a year. But in the last 15 months, he has had none. He attributes it to the hygiene and distancing in society that slowed the spread of even the common cold. He hopes that personal care remains.