Just delivered gourmet Indian food to the ER staff at Valley Medical Center (where Nicole works as an ER doc) for my Aunty Sachi and Uncle Frank. They’ve been serving all of us during the pandemic, and now that they’re dealing with the more contagious variant, I thought they could use a little treat: Tandoori chicken, fish tikka masala, chicken korma, veggie biriyani, aloo palak, and of course, garlic naan. All my favorites! Thank you to all ER staff everywhere! And, thanks to my Aunty Sachi and Uncle Frank who finance these endeavors.
I’m neither good at nor comfortable receiving gifts. It must be the Japanese in me. I usually [awkwardly] don’t know what to say, because the spotlight is on me and I want to show appreciation but my mind is whirling in circles wondering if I deserve the gift or acknowledgement. So when Valley Medical Center staff gathered around me and presented me with a gift that they wanted me to open right there, I had one of those awkward moments. I didn’t know what to say. There were dozens of cameras shooting photos and videos as I opened the plaque.
The plaque had a photo of the ER docs, nurses, and staff holding their gift bags of 3-layered cloth masks, plastic shields, and bottles of wine. The plaque read: SCVMC Emergency Department Staff Thank the D’Arcy Family for supporting us during the Covid-10 Pandemic. Wow!
I don’t know how they had the time (or energy) to have the photo mounted and plaque engraved. They were thanking us? Huh? We made the gifts and gave them dinners to show thanks and appreciation for them working on the frontline with COVID patients and risking their lives (and their family’s lives) to treat and care for everyone.
I feel humbled that they presented me with this plaque when they are the heroes. I love knowing that we all shared that moment together – something we all needed during this terrifying pandemic. I would make gifts and bring meals to every one of them every day, if I could. And I plan to keep supporting them until we get through this.
Just delivered a gourmet lunch to all of the ER staff at Valley Medical Center in San Jose today. My aunt and uncle asked me to deliver really special meals to the entire ER staff (3 shifts) to make sure that they know that we appreciate what they do to take care of all of us. This was the first meal delivery. I’ve been discussing menus, tastings, presentation, and costs with all of my favorite restaurants in Santa Cruz. Besides gaining a few more pounds, it’s been fun putting together the perfect menus. That’s right up my alley!
I love The Farm in Aptos, CA. They have the best fresh fruit tartlets, shortbread cookies, and spinach and gorgonzola quiches. Just to make the lunch extra special, we added a turkey club sandwich and a cobb salad! You know – so the staff would have all kinds of amazing tastes!
Thanks to my aunt and uncle for their generosity and for their love and concern for Nicole. Big thanks to the entire ER at VMC. They’re the best and they have incredible spirit. They sent us a thank you video that I’ll share here. 
Just delivered 150 3-layered cloth masks, face shields, and bottles of wine to the nurses, doctors, and technicians at Valley Med today. When my daughter asked me to sew masks because she and her co-workers didn’t have the PPE they needed to protect themselves, I started sewing masks during every free moment I had.
I wanted to give her whole staff these cloth masks that have 2 pockets for filters so they know that we – the public, the patients – appreciate that they still go to work every day even when they are immersed in coronavirus without enough masks and shields. Thanks to social media, my friend Michele Roush has joined me in sewing even more masks. My IT has both of his 3D printers making face shields around the clock. My husband Rob thought that we should put a bottle of wine in each gift bag to ease the healthcare workers’ stress (for one night) so we did some research and got an amazing deal on 300 bottles!
We loaded our RV with the gift bags and all of the additional contents. It must have been quite the sight to see us filling gift bags as dozens of healthcare workers got off their shifts this afternoon. Nicole made sure we stayed in the RV – far away from everyone – and reminded us not to touch our faces even though we were wearing masks and gloves.
I didn’t expect the healthcare workers to be so grateful to receive the gift bags. I made the gifts to thank THEM for their service. It was a little gesture to make to make them feel appreciated. But they all came up to the RV door (that was manned by Nicole) to thank us. It’s like thanking someone for a thank-you gift.
I’m back at my sewing machine. New goal is to make 150 more masks and shields. We already have the wine. Until I know that all healthcare professionals have the PPE they need to protect themselves, I’m going to do what I can to lift their spirits and give them masks and shields. Want to join me? Please sew masks and 3D print shields! Have connections at wineries? We can do this! They need us!
