Retirement living operator finds a way to retain dining staff
LOS ANGELES: A retirement living management group has found a way to retain its dining staff.
Residents of the Masonic Village at Sewickley have come up with a novel way to address a staff shortage in the retirement community’s dining services department.
They gave $4,000 college scholarships to 11 servers.
Because of the shortage, which was affecting the food industry as a whole, the retirement community had to pause table service in its restaurant.
Wanting to help, residents in the community of 512 formed a dining services scholarship committee consisting of four residents and Executive Director Eric Gross. More than $63,000 was raised in the first six months of this year as part of what will become an annual campaign.
“With the program, we thought it might encourage people to work here and put in more time,” said committee co-chairman Mike Glenn. “We were so successful we were able to increase our initial offer from $1,500 to $2,000 scholarships to $4,000 scholarships.
“It’s been a fun, exciting thing to be able to do.”
To qualify, servers must have worked at least 312 hours, have submitted a short essay and application, and already have been attending or accepted to college.
In the three months after the program was announced, five new servers were hired. Only one was hired in the previous three months.
“There was some seed money that was raised in the first quarter of 2022 prior to announcing the fund,” Gross said. “These monies are longer-term restricted and similar to any endowment that will help us ensure this scholarship fund can continue into perpetuity.
“The monies raised in our annual campaign are short-term in nature and are to be the primary source of our scholarships for that particular year. The long-term goal is to raise $500,000 in restricted funds.”
Gross would like to expand eligibility to other community employees.
“It is expected the majority of the staff members who apply for the program will be servers, but there may be other dining services staff who take advantage,” he said.
The community has 382 employees, including 47 servers who work in campus dining rooms. Many of the servers are high school or college age.
David Binley, 21, of Ben Avon, plans to use the scholarship he earned for tuition at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, where he is a senior economics major.
“It means a lot,” he said. “Tuition has only gone up. This is a huge help.”
A server for 3½ years, Binley works at the village during breaks.
“It keeps me busy and helps me save up money for school,” he said. “I’ve learned so much from so many of the residents who have shared their experiences.
“I’m excited to apply them to my time at school.”
Glenn, 87, a resident since December 2014 who previously lived in Sewickley, has enjoyed reading the thank-you notes.
He is impressed that some scholarship recipients plan to follow him into business.
“These kids are great and going into interesting areas of study,” he said. “We love them and make things fun for them.”