As many Detroiters continue to stay home and limit outings to prevent the spread of the pandemic, health care workers continue to work overtime on the front lines of the coronavirus (COVID-19). For many Warriors, these health care heroes are neighbors, friends and family. 

Wanting to show their appreciation, employees of Wayne State University Graduate School pitched in donations to buy Buddy’s Pizza for the midnight shift at DMC University Labs Specimen Processing on May 20. 

The idea was inspired by Shantelle Cavin, outreach specialist for the Graduate School, whose sister Varisha Cavin works that shift as group leader of all lab assistants. 

“I’m working from home, but she isn’t one of those fortunate people,” Shantelle said. “I watch her go to work every day and know that can’t be easy to mentally do, so I started thnking: ‘How can I support her and her staff, if I appreciate what they’re doing?’” 

Varisha had mentioned that plenty of meal donations were made to DMC during the day, but by the time midnight rolled around, any leftovers were slim pickings. That’s when Shantelle got the idea to personally donate dinner, but it was a challenge trying to find a place that was open so late and delivered. 

Shantelle mentioned the endeavor to Mary Wood, program director at the Graduate School, in passing who wanted to help and pitched the idea of collecting donations to the team who were all too happy to help. 

“Our Graduate School staff really stepped up to the plate,” Wood said. “The DMC midnight shift works long, hard hours to take care of all of us and we wanted to provide them with a little TLC in return.” 

Interim Dean Ingrid Guerra-López said it’s a small gesture compared to everything they have done to keep the community safe. “We just wanted to say thanks and let our health care professionals know how much we appreciate them.” 

This time, Shantelle did her research and found Buddy’s is open later and willing to deliver curbside pick-up. So, they did exactly that. 

“The gesture was a breath of fresh air during this trying time,” Varisha said. “We are grateful to be acknowledged for our hard work and truly enjoyed our meal.”