The Looney Bin gives back – with a little help from its friends

LACONIA — As owner of The Looney Bin Bar and Grill, Michelle Watson had made community support a mainstay of her business, such as hosting an annual pig roast to raise money for a local domestic violence shelter. That’s why the coronavirus shutdown was especially hard for her: not only was she worried about her neighbors, the hit to her business stripped her of her ability to help them.

“I love giving back to my community, it’s what I love to do, which I couldn’t do because I was worried about just keeping my doors open,” Watson said.

Since she had to close her bar and dine-in service, she had switched to just take-out, which she was doing Thursday to Sunday. Without her usual streams of revenue, she said she was just barely covering costs – which she was fine with, as long as it meant she was able to keep her staff employed.

Then, she got word from a friend. An anonymous third party wanted to cut her a check, just to make sure that The Looney Bin would still be around when it was again acceptable to meet some friends for a beer. But Watson saw that gift as an opportunity. If her business was going to make it through this, she wanted her neighbors to still be here, too.

Watson said she was inspired by what she has seen other business owners in the local community doing, such as a group of downtown businesses pooling resources and accepting donations in order to deliver food and drinks to frontline health care workers, or a brewery in Tilton collecting donations for a food pantry.

She was especially impressed with what Kaylon Sweet and his crew were doing at Osteria Poggio in Center Harbor. That restaurant usually closes for mud season, and instead of just waiting out the stay-at-home period to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Sweet and a couple of other chefs have been using surplus raw ingredients and cash donations to prepare nutritious, heat-at-home meals that they have been giving out to anyone who needs them.

“His inspiration behind it, his passion behind it, it gives you so much hope,” Watson said. “We took him as the inspiration, absolutely.”

After announcing her new program on social media, Watson had her first distribution night on Wednesday, and  she said 55 people showed up. In addition to prepared take-home meals, she also had a collection of basic household staples for people to choose from.

The original gift was enough for two weeks. Since going public with the program, she said, “We’ve also received some donations from some other people, we are definitely going to be able to extend it for a third week, perhaps longer depending on how I can stretch it,” she said.

The next distribution at The Looney Bin will be from 3 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Watson said they are only allowing one person, or one couple, inside the small eatery at one time.

“If somebody isn’t able to make it, or doesn’t want to come in person, we’re happy to leave things outside or drop things off if need be. We don’t want anybody to be hungry, we really don’t,” Watson said. She said special arrangements can be made by calling 603-366-2300, or by sending a message through social media.

Sweet, chef-owner at Osteria Poggio, said that as of Monday, his team of volunteers had prepared and distributed around 3,000 meals, and had served more than 1,000 families. He’ll continue the program, which offers pick-ups from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays, for one more week.

Starting next week, his restaurant will open to the public for take-out service, Wednesday through Saturday, from 4 to 9 p.m. He said he’ll continue to cook for those who can’t pay.

“People who are in need can call ahead and we’ll have something for them,” Sweet said. “We’re still going strong on it, we’re not stopping. We’re going to keep going with it until there’s not a need for it.”

Watson said her first free food giveaway was “eye-opening, and really heartwarming. Some of the people, they left a mark… You went to bed with a really happy heart knowing that people had gone home with some warm food.”

There was some left over, she said,  she was able to bring the food to places in the community that needed it.

“There’s no way to describe it,” she said about the feeling of giving food to people that are in need. “This is the big thing that is keeping the positivity alive for me right now, it’s amazing.”

She said it “means a lot” to her that the anonymous donor offered to help her business.

“You forget sometimes how many amazing people there are in the community, it’s nice to have those little reminders,” Watson said. “The worst part is, they want to remain anonymous, so I can’t even thank them.”