Recalling a period in her young adulthood when she had a really hard time making ends meet, Rebecca Zukowski-Gillespie, the Blondie of Blondies Cupcakes in Catasauqua, earlier this year took to her Facebook page and invited people who were struggling with the coronavirus shutdown to stop by her shop for no-charge curbside pickup meals, conversation and community connection.

“I just wanted to help my community have a little less of a struggle with what we were all facing,” she said.

What started as a commitment to provide 100 meals each Wednesday quickly blossomed to as many as 350 people lining up for meals.

And it wasn’t just cupcakes Rebecca Zukowski-Gillespie and her husband, Chad Gillespie, provided to Catasauqua area families.

When they opened Blondies a decade ago, they were advised they’d likely see more customer traffic if they provided food entrees along with their variety of cupcake offerings.

They started small with hot dogs with toppings and accompaniments. When they started to add Slovak favorites like halupkies and haluski to the menu at their 333 Front St. shop, that part of the business really kicked in, with a normal year’s sales being about 70-percent baked goods and 30-percent food offerings.

With the overwhelming response from people needing help, Zukowski-Gillespie sent out social media calls for those who could help in the assistance effort.

The congregation at Holy Trinity Memorial Lutheran Church in Catasauqua adopted the effort with vigor. The church, during the shutdown, was earmarking substantial amounts of its resources to securing meals from Catasauqua restaurants for curbside handouts at the church. Those efforts were moved to Blondies’ location.

Other Catasauqua eateries and ethnic social clubs joined the effort with food and support.

“We had as many as 35 pizzas from area pizza shops delivered for our Wednesday food handout days,” Zukowski-Gillespie said.

Even folks standing in line for food came bearing staples for distribution the next week.

“People who grew up without, or those finding themselves unaccustomedly in need during the shutdown, were more apt to want to help others in the same situation,” Zukowski-Gillespie said.

Through word of mouth, names and addresses of shop regulars unable to travel to the Blondies location had food packets delivered by her husband.

Zukowski-Gillespie said she felt gratified that, during a time of partisanship and division across the country, she saw none of it in the local effort.

“There was a real coming together in our community. With a lot of depressing news being fed to us by national media, we found that we were not as divided as some people would have us believe,” she observed.

“The one thing that we heard constantly was that people were experiencing a sense of hope and gratitude that comes out of neighbors sticking together to help each other,” Zukowski-Gillespie said.

Being an outgoing person by nature, Zukowski-Gillespie offered more than just food resources. The isolation folks were feeling was also causing emotional turmoil, she found.

On social media, she posted a positive message of community. “Even if you don’t need food, just come by the shop and I’ll be glad to talk with you,” she posted.

“Just knowing someone cares, and that they were not forgotten, helped to relieve a sense of feeling hopeless” among those who took her up on the offer, she said.

Zukowski-Gillespie also offered what she called “sunshine bags” for children.

“These were little goody bags we made up for kids throughout our area,” she said. “Deliveries were made to children in Catasauqua and North Catasauqua. Our police officers helped with those deliveries, and deliveries made to locations outside the borough were done by community volunteers who reached out to me. We made and delivered over 1,000 goody bags for children.”

Now that the state has moved into the green phase of recovery, she has been soliciting gift cards from area businesses for those who still could use help. Besides restaurant takeout offerings, those gift cards have been heavily leaning toward ice cream and other comfort foods.

Even though Blondies Cupcakes has missed out on a lot of business that’s usually associated with this time of year, especially celebrations for high school and college graduations, Zukowski-Gillespie said she sees many regulars stopping by to buy her baked goods.

“I know what they’re doing,” she said. “They want to see us survive, too.”

While she and her husband appreciate the support, their struggles have not affected their generous spirit.

“Whatever we had left over after paying our bills,” she said, “we’ve been able to put back into providing food for those who have needed it.”

Zukowski-Gillespie does not know how the future is going to look for the business but said, “for us, the best part is that we’ve made an awful lot of new friends.”

Editor’s Note: If you know someone who should be featured as a Lehigh Valley Health Network Community Partner, email dgalbraith@tnonline.com.