Sterling State Bank Partnering With Local Restaurant To Buy Pizza for OMC Health Care Workers

04/13/2020

ROCHESTER, MN – What do a Bank, a Pizza restaurant and a Medical Center (OMC) have in common? The answer is community!  This week Sterling State Bank is partnering with Mr. Pizza of Rochester to say Thank You to the hundreds of health care workers and employees across all OMC locations in Southern Minnesota!

Beginning today and continuing daily through Thursday, April 16th, Sterling State Bank is ordering pizza for every single OMC employee across all 20 of their locations.  Mr. Pizza is filling these orders and handling the logistics of delivering free pizza to OMC’s emergency room, hospitals and clinics. 

“We cannot be more grateful for the sacrifices our health care workers are making on our behalf,” said Sterling State Bank President Justin McNeilus.  “The medical professionals in our community have been working overtime during this pandemic. They deserve all of the thanks in the world for what they do. This is a small gesture, but it is a way for us to say Thank You for everything they are doing!  I also want thank Mr. Pizza.  They are such a fixture in Rochester and have been a wonderful customer and community partner of ours for years. We want to make sure they are here for many more years to come.”

As the covid-19 crisis started, the call to support local businesses and their employees has grown louder and louder.  Already many have stepped forward to help. Like so many businesses in Minnesota, Sterling State Bank has been doing all we can to help send business to our community partners. Internally we have launched a program to buy our 70 employees lunch on a weekly basis from restaurants or food vendors who are also our customers.   These lunches have been welcomed by our employees and customers, but as a Bank, we wanted to do more.

So this week we’re not just buying lunch for our staff, we’re buying lunch for the entire OMC family! 

While this has been a trying time for health care workers, the support from our community is making a difference.  “The outpouring of support for Olmsted Medical Center and its employees during the COVID-19 response period has been heartwarming and greatly appreciated,” said OMC Vice President, Marketing & Philanthropy Stacey Vanden Heuvel.  “Sterling State Bank, a long-time supporter of OMC and OMC Regional Foundation, offered to buy pizza for all OMC employees. We appreciate Sterling State Bank’s very generous offer. This gift also helps support a local restaurant business, Mr. Pizza.  On behalf of OMC’s employees, we want to extend a huge thank you to Sterling State Bank.”

Buying pizza for an entire hospital, emergency room and clinic network is no small logistical challenge!  In all over 1300 OMC employees across all 20 of their clinic locations will be treated to fresh, delicious Mr. Pizza pizza over the next four days.  This is among the largest orders that Mr. Pizza of Rochester has received in their 57 year history and is helping keep their employees busy and on the job during this period where their dining in business is closed.

 “We are overwhelmingly grateful for the support that the community has shown us during this time,” said Mr. Pizza South owner/operator Ryan Fulton. “My family and our staff are very humbled by everyone's generosity and concern.  We have the best customers that any small business could ask for.  Really, after 57 years serving the community, they are thought of as friends and family more than customers.”

Sterling State Bank is a state-chartered Bank founded by local community members in Austin, MN in 1958.  Purchased by the McNeilus family in 1992, the Bank first opened an office in Rochester, MN that same year.  In 2001 the Bank transitioned its corporate headquarters from Austin, MN to Rochester, MN to better support a changing geographic footprint.  Currently, Sterling State Bank has branches serving communities in Lyle, Austin, Rochester, Apple Valley, Lakeville and Savage.  For more information about our Bank and how we connect with the communities we serve, please visit www.sterlingstatebank.com.