i just read where Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse got $20M in the “small business” PPP loan. Seems a good time to tell s story about Ruth’s.
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Two years ago, through a variety of means (appearances, commercial trade etc) I had accumulated gift cards to several restaurants.

This is pretty common in radio/media work. Towards the end of the year (I think it was 2018) I had an idea. Yes. I like steak. Of course. And I like Ruth’s Chris steak. Who doesn’t? But I thought maybe it’d be a good chance to allow people who rarely got to enjoy a great steak

the chance to do so. I had $600 worth of Ruth Chris gift cards. I called to present an idea: How much food could I buy- smaller plates, sliders, salads, how many different meals could I get in “bulk”- no major sides, no alcohol- if I wanted fo provide a nice holiday meal for

folks at local homeless shelters? How much food would it buy me? ai called their downtown location. Sorry, I was told. We don’t do anything like that. You can buy however many full meals (8? 9?) that will buy you after tax. No flexibility. No discussion. Oh. Okay.
Well, it turns

out, I also had $900 In gift cards to @stelmo. I called the with the exact same inquiry. They asked if they could give me a call back in a few minutes. Sure. Less than 10 minutes later, they called back. They had an idea- 100% their proposal. They wefe happy to take the $900 in

gift cards. But they didn’t like the amount. They told me to round it up to $1,000. And they wanted to match me, dollar for dollar. So they told me to call Wheeler Mission to ask how many people they feed on an average night. Then, they prepared 12 shrimp cocktail and dessert

plates for the 20 residents of Wheeler Mission’s choice most deserving of a private dinner. It was men who had graduated from the Mission’s substance recovery program. Then, they delivered prime rib chili, cornbread and desserts for all other residents. 220 people. St Elmo steak

gave 240 of Indianapolis’s less fortunate a special holiday dinner. I like to think that some of those residents got back in their feet, and who knows? Maybe they are now part of a small business. And if they are, I hope their business got a PPP loan that Ruth Chris got to the

tune of $20,000,000. And if they didn’t, but still some day have the desire or means to enjoy a great steak dinner in Indianapolis, I hope they do the same thing you would:
Enjoy @stelmo !!