Deet’s BBQ Fundraiser Feeds Medical Workers On Front Line

BY NANCY GAGNET | MIRROR REPORTER — Deet’s BBQ has found a new way to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It began when the William Vaughan Company had to cancel a large catering order because of the pandemic. The company paid for the food it no longer needed and suggested that it be donated to a worthy organization instead.

“That was really nice of them to do and it spurred my business partner Tim and I to take it and distribute it to medical workers,” said Deet’s co-owner Trevor Deeter.

Since Deeter’s wife is a nurse at St. Charles Hospital, the food was given to staff there, which then prompted a second person to step up with an offer to donate $500 to feed more health care workers, leading to a “Grubs for Scrubs” initiative.

“From there it took off, and it’s all thanks to donations that keep flying in,” Deeter said. 

Since Grubs for Scrubs began, Deet’s has received $30,600 through individual and business donations, with food going to health care workers at Bay Park, St. Luke’s, Flower, St. Anne’s, St. Vincent Mercy Medical, Toledo and Regency hospitals as well as UTMC. In addition, food deliveries have also been sent to several OB-GYN facilities along with rehab and dialysis offices and urgent care facilities.

Deet’s has also partnered with Jupmode for a T-shirt campaign to support nurses and raise money for the Grubs for Scrubs campaign. For every T-shirt sold under the campaign, $10.00 is donated to the Grubs for Scrubs initiative.

“You just see how these nurses are tired and kind of beaten down and to be able to provide them a free sandwich, they are so thankful,” Deeter said. “We just make sandwiches, but what they are doing is the hard stuff. There is a ton of negative happening, but somehow this positive has grown out of a crappy situation. It’s the community coming together and saying that we want to support these men and women out there and it’s a good feeling for us to be able to pass this along.”

•

Deet’s BBQ has five locations, including the Maumee location at 1385 Conant St. 

To make a food donation to a specific medical facility through the “Grubs for Scrubs” fundraiser, visit deetsbbq.com. To order a T-shirt from Jupmode, visit www.jupmode.com.

To contact the Maumee store, call (419) 893-2335.