After a crew of hungry firefighters was refused meals at McDonald’s in Sisters, a local eatery stepped in and provided them with free hot meals.
Kaylee Rabe got a call from her wildland firefighter husband who informed her that he had been denied service from the Sisters McDonald’s.
He had just finished a 15-hour shift on the Grandview Fire and wanted to eat something, along with the rest of his team which was about 22 people.
“Usually when they’re on fires, there’s a camp kitchen that provides food for them so they don’t have to buy their own food or worry about that,” Rabe said. “However, the camp was fairly new so they hadn’t set up a kitchen yet.”
It was after 9 p.m. Tuesday and the only restaurant open was McDonald’s, which was closing at 10. So Rabe and his team passed through the drive-through but were not given food even though the restaurant was still open.
An employee told Rabe and his colleagues that it was because too many firefighters had already passed through with large orders. “My husband then said, ‘Well we’re firefighters too’ and they said, ‘Well come to the lobby,’”
Kaylee Rabe said. “Then when they got to the lobby there was some discrepancy between the firefighters and the McDonald’s workers.”
Meanwhile, a worker from Chops Bistro in Sisters saw the commotion happening from next door at the Chevron gas station.
“She called me up and said, ‘Do you mind if I bring ten people over to feed them tonight?’” Tracy Syanovitz, Chops Bistro owner, said. “We were closed and I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
Syanovitz decided to open her restaurant and went to work in the kitchen. “They are very deserving for businesses to open up and take care of them,” Syanovitz said. She fed them a steak dinner completely free of charge.
“They were the most genuine, appreciative people that instead of having a hamburger they actually had a meal,” Syanovitz said. “It was awesome to do it.”
God bless Chops Bistro in Sisters for doing the correct thing and feeding these first responders well and free of charge. Firefighters are a blessing to our country and we need to do all that we can to help and support these heroic people.
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