By K.D. Norris
In December of last year, the City of Kentwood Police Department and Lacks Enterprises, Inc. — both understanding the importance to the community of small businesses, including local eateries, in this time of COVID-19 dining restrictions — partnered to help both two Kentwood restaurants and their customers.
The two partners, last week held another pop-up event, and thanks to a $1,000 donation from Lacks, the Kentwood Police Department were able to surprise about 100 customers of El Ganadero Mexican Grille and Mr. Burger with $10 toward their lunch orders “as a thank-you for supporting local restaurants,” according to a statement from the city.
El Ganadero Mexican Grille is located at 4208 Division Ave. SE, and Mr. Burger is at 1750 44th St. SE.
Kentwood police Chief Richard Roberts, in the WKTV studios for an interview last week, spoke of the program and it being part of a wider effort by the police and the city to support the residential, workforce and business community.
“We’ve been partnering with some great businesses in our city,” Chief Roberts said to WKTV. “One of our great partners, Lacks Enterprises, they have so many people who live in our community, work in their manufacturing, they like to give back. And they like to give back though the police department, through a partnership — it is a great way to partner for the community.”
The event was the second in the Police Department’s local business showcase series to “support Kentwood businesses and create positive experiences with the community during these difficult times,” according to the city statement.
“Lacks Enterprises believes you need a lot of different components to make a community a place for people to live and raise their families,” Jim Green, executive director of human resources at Lacks, said to WKTV at one of the pop-up event sites in December. “But the real backbone of this community is the small businesses. Without that you would not have all the other things that make the community what it is today.”
The series highlights businesses within Kentwood — both those donating to restaurants to create similar pop-up events and the local businesses supported by the donations. Local businesses interested in participating, either by donating or by being possibly involved with the pop-up events, can call Sergeant Tim Wierenga at 616-656-6561.
“We just wanted to give our small businesses a little support,” Sgt. Wierenga said to WKTV at the first pop-up event. “What we’d like to see of this is (to continue) showcasing our business community and showcasing the city that we love. We would love for this to develop into something more. … We’d love to have some more showcase events.”
