Vollwerth’s in Hancock was doing business as usual when a customer came in and brought up reports of construction workers being mistreated by motorists, according to Vollwerth’s President Adam Manderfield.
“We were just kind of disturbed by it,” said President of Vollwerth’s Adam Manderfield. “One of the girls in the office said ‘we should go and serve them hotdogs as a thank you.’ As soon as I heard that, it was a no-brainer.”
The employees fired up the grill and moments later, delivered hot dogs and brats to the crews for lunch. Manderfield said this was the least they could do for the workers.
“It was a sense of community and pride. I mean, these guys are down there working their butts off and sure, it might be a pain for some people in dealing with the traffic, but at the end of the day, it’s all for the better,” said Manderfield. “We just wanted to say thank you.”
Vollwerth’s was not alone in showing their appreciation for the crews. Construction worker Blaine Ruonavaara said crews were a bit confused by the gestures at first.
“Well, it came out of the blue yesterday,” said Construction Worker Blaine Ruonavaara. “Actually, on this corner, some lady came up to me and gave me a bag of doughnuts and said ‘This is for the people that have been mistreating the construction workers and stuff like that.’ And it kind of hit me, I’m like ‘okay, what’s going on here?’ Then I figured it out that yeah, the community realized what they’re doing and it’s huge. It means a lot to us, it brings up the morale.”
Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the week.