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Mom of six who turned her Irish pub into a hub of pandemic service gets $1 million surprise

Mom of six who turned her Irish pub into a hub of pandemic service gets $1 million surprise

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit many people hard, but it's been a particularly rough road for restaurant owners. Businesses that rely on people gathering can't sustain being closed for long, and when your small business is your livelihood, your financial security can plummet far and fast.

That's the situation Mary O'Halloran found herself in when her Irish pub in New York City's east side was shut down just before St. Patrick's Day. In a post shared by Humans of New York, O'Halloran explained that her longshoreman husband got stuck in the Aleutian Islands for nine months when the pandemic hit, as no flights were going out. That meant she was stuck with a suddenly shutdown pub, six kids who needed schooling from home, and no idea how to make it all work.

She explained what she did to homeschool her kids, as well as try to make ends meet:

"I pulled all the furniture out of the bar, and made a section for each of them [the kids]: pillow, blankets, everything they needed. Then I had to figure out how to survive. Other bar owners were just throwing up their hands, but I had to try something. I began catering dinners for emergency workers at a nearby hotel. It wasn't much money, but it was something to do. Each night I'd cook dinner for thirty people. The kids would help when they could: peeling potatoes, washing dishes.

But I'd be so exhausted every day. Everyone had so much faith in me to survive. Maybe because I keep the tough side out—everyone assumed I was OK. Nobody knew I was full of worries. But it was so freakin' hard. To keep the kids happy. Month after month I'm falling further behind on the rent. It felt like the walls were closing in."

However, her regular customers kept showing up:


"They ran errands for me. Sometimes they'd take the kids on walks to give me a break. There was a group of Irish musicians who would play here every Thursday night. They helped me set up an online store, so that I could sell scones to the music people. Soda bread scones with homemade blackberry jam. My mother's recipe from back in Ireland. Really, it's the simplest thing-- but all six of us kids used to line up for them."

Those scones became a lifeline for O'Halloran when a reporter did a story on the bar and tasted one of her scones live on TV. For a few months, the orders rolled in:

"It wasn't a ton of money. I was only making $1800 for 100 boxes of scones. It wasn't paying rent or anything. But it was something to do, you know? I finally found something that was working. People were writing notes, saying: 'I gave these to my grandmother, and she loved them.' It was the little bit of light that I needed. It pulled me forward. I didn't feel alone anymore. It was like: 'Oh My God, there's something out there.'

O'Halloran's story on Humans of New York resonated with people who acknowledged her work ethic and heart for service—and comments from those who know her and her pub came flooding in as well.

"I used to sing in Mary's pub," wrote one commenter. "My jazz band loved her food, my Irish parents loved her hospitality, and I loved her genuine, heartwarming, generous, positive, can-do, independent spirit. This woman is a Celtic Goddess. She's the rainbow in an Irish sky. She adds a secret ingredient to the extraordinary mix of this melting pot city. As Nat King Cole spelled it.... L-O-V-E."

"Mary is SO WONDERFUL," wrote another. "No one in the world deserves happiness and success more than Mary. I had the pleasure of teaching her daughter Erinn, and Mary was the most incredible class parent, always sending in treats for the class and asking what more she could do when she was already stretched so thin. She even hosted our entire grade of 75 students for a cooking class at the pub! She often donates catered meals to our school's teachers and office staff. We love you, Mary!!"

And yet another: "Mary even would come in on a Sunday am & teach local Boy Scouts how to cook & let them serve their families in her dining room! My son still knows how to crack an egg one-handed thanks to her. She's a gem and so is Mary O's!"

And still another: "I live around the corner. Mary let my neighbor get married in her restaurant. There was no money in it for her. Just needed a space for 30 minutes. There were only a few of us there in person; a lot of people on zoom. But Mary couldn't help herself: She whipped together a shepherd's pie and sautéed mushrooms and we had a wedding feast all afternoon."

Brandon Stanton, the man behind Humans of New York created a special web page for people to purchase O' Halloran's scones for $30 instead of her price of $18 to help her out. "Mary started crying when I suggested raising prices, because she says other people are hurting more than her," he wrote. "So if you are also in a tough spot, but want to try the scones, do not worry. The $18 non-magical scones are still available through her website."

Within a day of posting Mary's story and the link for ordering scones, more than $1 million worth of orders came in, Stanton shared on Instagram.


"We found a quiet table at the end of the night, and I gave her a full accounting," Stanton wrote. "There were 25,000 orders, which meant 150,000 scones. She allowed herself a brief, joyful cry. Then she asked: 'I can do this, right?' I told her: 'Of course.' Because every one of those orders came from people who want the best for her. And I felt confident that we'd all be patient while she figured out a new process for making scones. Mary has a great team around her. She refers to them as 'The Regulars' as if they're a squad of superheroes, but they're actually longtime customers who transform into volunteers at a moment's notice."

Stanton said those volunteers have made it clear that after a decade of serving others, O'Halloran is simply reaping what she's sown: "'This woman deserves every bit of this,' they said. 'She gives and gives and never asks for a thing.'

It will take teamwork and planning and time to fulfill the scone orders, but it will be done. A GoFundMe also provides an alternative for people who want to help Mary O's out directly.

What a beautiful show of support for a woman who has provided so much support for others.

Health

4 simple hacks to help you meet your healthy eating goals

Trying to eat healthier? Try these 4 totally doable tricks.

Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash

Most of us want to eat healthier but need some help to make it happen.

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When it comes to choosing what to eat, we live in a uniquely challenging era. Never before have humans known more about nutrition and how to eat for optimal health, and yet we’ve never been more surrounded by distractions and temptations that derail us from making healthy choices.

Some people might be able to decide “I’m going to eat healthier!” and do so without any problem, but those folks are unicorns. Most of us know what we should do, but need a little help making it happen—like some simple hacks, tips and tricks for avoiding pitfalls on the road to healthier eating.

While recognizing that what works for one person may not work for another, here are some helpful habits and approaches that might help you move closer to your healthy eating goals.

man pulling chip out of a chip bagOur mouths loves chips. Our bodies not so much.Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

Goal: Snack on less junk food

Tip: Focus your willpower on the grocery store, not your home

Willpower is a limited commodity for most of us, and it is no match for a bag of potato chips sitting on top of the fridge. It’s just a fact. Channeling your willpower at the grocery store can save you from having to fight that battle at home. If you don’t bring chips into your house in the first place, you’ll find it a lot easier to reach for something healthier.

The key to successful shopping trips is to always go to the store with a specific list and a full stomach—you’ll feel much less tempted to buy the junky snack foods if you’re already satiated. Also, finding healthier alternatives that will still satisfy your cravings for salty or crunchy, or fatty foods helps. Sugar snap peas have a surprisingly satisfying crunch, apples and nut butter hit that sweet-and-salty craving, etc.

slice of cakeYou can eat well without giving up sweets completely.Photo by Caitlyn de Wild on Unsplash

Goal: Eat less sugar

Tip: Instead of “deprive,” think “delay” or “decrease and delight”

Sugar is a tricky one. Some people find it easier to cut out added sugars altogether, but that can create an all-or-nothing mindset that all too often results in “all.” Eating more whole foods and less processed foods can help us cut out a lot of ancillary sugar, but we still live in a world with birthday cakes and dessert courses.

One approach to dessert temptation is to delay instead of deprive. Tell yourself you can have any sweet you want…tomorrow. This mental trick flips the “I’ll just indulge today and start eating healthier tomorrow” idea on its head. It’s a lot easier to resist something you know you can have tomorrow than to say no to something you think you’ll never get to have again.

Another approach when you really want to enjoy a dessert at that moment is to decrease the amount and really truly savor it. Eat each bite slowly, delighting in the full taste and satisfaction of it. As soon as that delight starts to diminish, even a little, stop eating. You’ve gotten what you wanted out of it. You don’t have to finish it. (After all, you can always have more tomorrow!)

colorful fresh food on a plateA naturally colorful meal is a healthy meal.Photo by Anna Pelzer on Unsplash

Goal: Eat healthier meals

Tip: Focus on fresh foods and plan meals ahead of time

Meal planning is easier than ever before. The internet is filled with countless tools—everything from recipes to shopping lists to meal planning apps—and it’s as awesome as it is overwhelming.

Planning ahead takes the guesswork and decision fatigue out of cooking, preventing the inevitable “Let’s just order a pizza.” You can have a repeating 3-week or 4-week menu of your favorite meals so you never have to think about what you’re going to eat, or you can meal plan once a week to try new recipes and keep things fresh.

It might help to designate one day a week to “shop and chop”—getting and prepping the ingredients for the week’s meals so they’re ready to go in your fridge or freezer.

woman holding blueberries in her handsOrganic foods are better for the Earth and for us.Photo by andrew welch on Unsplash

Goal: Eat more organic/humanely raised food

Tip: Utilize the “dirty dozen” and “clean 15” lists to prioritize

Many people choose organic because they want to avoid pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals. Organic food is also better for the planet, and according to the Mayo Clinic, studies have shown that organic produce is higher in certain nutrients.

Most people don’t buy everything organic, but there are some foods that should take priority over others. Each year, researchers from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) analyze thousands of samples of dozens of fruits and vegetables. From this data, they create a list of the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” fruits and vegetables, indicating what produce has the most and least pesticide residue. These lists give people a good place to start focusing their transition to more organic foods.

To make organic eating even simpler, you can shop O Organics® at your local Albertsons or Safeway stores. The O Organics brand offers a wide range of affordable USDA-certified organic products in every aisle. If you’re focusing on fresh foods, O Organics produce is always grown without synthetic pesticides, is farmed to conserve biodiversity, and is always non-GMO. All animal-based O Organics products are certified humane as well. Even switching part of your grocery list to organic can make a positive impact on the planet and the people you feed.

Healthy eating habits don’t have to be all or nothing, and they don’t have to be complicated. A few simple mindset changes at home and habit changes at the grocery store can make a big difference.

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