SDSU Alums Restaurant Keeps Workers Employed While Providing Food to Those in Need

SDSU Alum’s Restaurant Keeps Workers Employed While Providing Food to Those in Need

Sharp Grossmont Hospital staff member wheels Woodstock's pizza into the hospital for waiting healthcare workers

On the evening of March 16, 2020, California governor, Gavin Newsom, called for the closure of all dine-in restaurants in order to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus among the state’s residents. Only those restaurants fulfilling delivery and carry-out orders could remain open. 

The governor’s order had an immediate impact on the state’s restaurant owners, many of whom had to shut down their businesses and lay-off employees. 

However, Woodstock’s Pizza, which has been operating their flagship restaurant near SDSU for nearly 40 years, found a philanthropic way to continue business and keep their employees working while supporting the local community. While they remain open to the public for delivery and carry-out orders, they have also teamed up with the Salvation Army to launch the Double Your Dough-Nation fundraiser. Proceeds raised will help feed hundreds of healthcare workers, charity volunteers, those who are sick and quarantined, the homeless and those who have recently lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to Laura Ambrose, a graduate of SDSU’s Fowler College of Business (’89, MBA), Woodstock’s will double every dollar donated. “For instance, when we raised $1,260 at the San Diego locations, it helped us provide $2,520 worth of free pizza to those in need,” she explained.

The inspiration for the Double Your Dough-Nation fundraiser came from Ambrose’s cousin who called her after she heard Newsom’s order to shut down all California restaurants. “She offered to buy $1,000 worth of pizzas even though she doesn’t live here,” said Ambrose. “We then started brainstorming about how we could use that money to help others while keeping our people employed.”

Staff at Sharp Grossmont Hospital with a special delivery from Woodstock's Pizza

Since Woodstock’s had previously built successful partnerships with the Salvation Army during the California wildfires and other disasters, Ambrose called them the morning after the conversation with her cousin to see how Woodstock’s could help. “As it turned out, they had just held an emergency meeting to discuss how to find more food for those in need, since they were quickly running out,” she said. “The timing was perfect, and they immediately set the wheels in motion to work with us. It all came together in one day.”

Within days after the event launched on March 26, Woodstock’s was feeding 100 healthcare workers at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California and the volunteers who are managing a program for the unemployed and the homeless at the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Center in San Diego. 

“The reason we’re doing this is because it’s a win/win/win,” explained Ambrose. “First, we are providing an opportunity for our guests and friends to help those in need. Secondly, we’re providing food to an organization that is in desperate need of resources right now, and, third, we are keeping our team working by doing something for the greater good. We’d love for other restaurants to join the effort and launch similar programs.”