07/28/2026
Another True Story from Colley Avenue Copies
Let’s Have Lunch.
We often hire University Students who need extra cash and lived off of their meal plans. JD was one of our outstanding employees. We had flex scheduling so students would not need to adjust their school schedule. Something other employers usually can’t do. JD’s father was well known to us, he flew everywhere on private jets to get him to meetings to close huge deals. We assumed that JD had a great meal plan. On a Tuesday afternoon, after Holly and I had returned from deliveries, we found JD laying on the floor. We quickly jumped to his side and asked “what happened?”. JD said that he was filling the paper trays on the machine and stood up too quickly and passed out. Holly asked “when was the last time you ate?”. “two hours ago” JD replied. Holly gave him some orange juice and snacks, and sent him home to recover. As soon as he left, Ray, JD’s friend and coworker pulled us aside. Ray told us that JD had not eaten since yesterday. He had a plan to dig up worms in the back of the shop and walk across the street to the waters near O’Sullivan’s Wharf. He was going to catch some fish to solve his lack of food problem. It was a stupid plan. He didn’t catch a single fish. “What about his Dad?” I asked. Ray told us that his parents divorced and his Dad cut off the older kids from his first family. We had wrongly assumed that hunger was not an issue for JD. The next day we bought every employee lunch. We bought it the next day and the next. It became a permeant thing. Every day we would buy lunch for all of our employees. We usually try to focus on small local restaurants, and always have a pantry stocked with snacks for our employees. Food insecurity is rarely where you think it is. It’s why Colley Avenue Copies & Graphics, Inc. supports organizations that feed people. So let’s have lunch.
