Unlocking the Hearts of One Oak Lawn Citizen at a Time by Alexandra

Unlocking the Hearts of One Oak Lawn Citizen at a Time by Alexandra - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

I try really hard not to be a biased person. I also often do think about this scenario. What WOULD I do if I was granted $10,000? There are plenty of good things that I could do with this $10,000 grant. For example, I could donate the money to Oak Lawn's Special Recreation Program, or the town's public schools, or the local theater programs and music programs that I was apart of growing up. Those all sound like pretty nice options, right? I'd be doing it all "For the children!" as they'd say. But what good does that do me? Oh, I'm just gonna hand over $10,000 to my old middle school, allowing them to buy a new bassoon just so I can go to one of their concerts and hear a more in-tune rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? I don't think so. All that will do for me is benefit my ears and I'm sorry, but that's not good enough! If I was granted $10,000, I would you use it to positively impact my hometown, but do it in a way that benefits everyone within the community, not just a select group of people. I would donate half of the money to Premo's Ice Cream and the other half to Grassano's Pizza.
My mother always told me that they key to a man's heart is through his stomach, and boy, is she right. Now I'm no man, but I am a 20 year old college girl who is sick of cafeteria food. Oddly enough, when I am not home, it's not the home cooked meals that I miss, (Sorry, Mom!) it's the iconic Oak Lawn restaurants that I crave. Anyone who lives in Oak Lawn will tell you that the best place for soft-serve ice cream is Premo's, and the best pizza puffs are from Grassano's. Both businesses are very small and family owned. Each restaurant creates such a welcoming environment for the entire community from their social media pages, all the way to their cashiers. The love for Premo's and Grassano's never ends in Oak Lawn and I want to make sure that their businesses never end either.
Within the past 5 years, Premo's and Grassano's have both caught fire and had to go through renovations and were closed down for a period of time, causing them to miss out on sales. When each fire occurred, it was a true Oak Lawn tragedy, arguably almost as bad as the great Oak Lawn Tornado back in '67. I would donate the granted money to both of these businesses to not only refurnish both locations, but to also remodel them and possibly expand the size of the restaurants. With both places being constantly busy, additional seating work be a huge upgrade that every customer would enjoy. The money I donate would not be just impacting a select group of people. Instead, it would be positively impacting an entire community of people who all share a common love of good food. I want to keep the doors of both of these restaurants open, the stomachs of all of Oak Lawn full, and the hearts of Oak Lawn happy, one pizza puff or ice cream cone at a time.