#PeopleofNEI: Krystal, building community during COVID-19

Krystal Vega owns Zinnia's Bakehouse. Courtesy

Northeast Indiana is evolving. These are the people and places shaping its future. #PeopleofNEI #PlacesofNEI

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(Due to the stay-at-home order, our #PeopleofNEI features are being conducted via online communication with our feature taking a selfie to respect social distancing requirements.) Krystal Vega, owner of Zinnia's Bakehouse, has been actively involved in bringing our community together during the COVID-19 crisis. “The idea for 2GO Fort Wayne came during a conference call with all hospitality (food, drinks, baked goods) industry business owners. MC (from Hop River Brewing) and I started this group by inviting all of our industry and non-industry friends. We realized by the second day that we needed more help and brought on three more friends. I love how much we all actually care about our community and making it stronger rather than letting it crumble during this time. Everyone is looking out for one another. The most important thing that people can do during this time to support local is to have compassion and patience. It’s one thing to order take out. It is another action to leave a nice tip for the staff. If they take more time than estimated, wait graciously. These small actions are what is speaking volumes in this time. Most restaurants aren’t set up for so much carry out. Others have never even done curbside. Some don’t even have an online presence. Give the learning curve some patience and compassion. Fort Wayne is home. We are small enough to be able to rally and stick together but big enough that we have so much to enjoy from entertainment to food. We have locally produced and sourced meaderies, wineries, breweries, and distilleries. Not many cities have that many options. We have so many cultures represented in food from Salvadorian to Jamaican and Korean. I have also spent my time baking. While everyone’s staff was laid off, I have been making loaves of bread to give to the staff members and I’m at just under 800 loaves to date. I am also making tons of treats to take to front line members of hospitals. Just under 600 pieces and 5 hospitals have been delivered to. It’s a small way to say thank you. I actually asked for members of the group to give me notes of love to add and that has been great to cover the box with appreciation and love!” #PeopleofNEI
A post shared by Input Fort Wayne (@inputfortwayne) on Apr 21, 2020 at 9:42am PDT

#PeopleofNEI: Krystal, building community during COVID-19

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