'Midnight' meals come with side of appreciation

It doesn’t take much to show someone they’re appreciated, at least that is what Daniel Blair has learned over the past six months.As a night-shift nurse’s assistant in the Johnson City Medical Center for a couple years, Blair had dreamed of one day delivering meals to people working late hours. He assumed that would have to wait until he became rich and famous. Then Blair read a quote from Mother Teresa: “If you can’t feed 100 people, then just feed one.” He decided the time was now to show his appreciation of individuals who work through the night in sometimes thankless jobs. Naming his effort, Midnight Munchies, Blair began in October delivering meals to nurses at area hospitals, firefighters, police officers and EMS workers.“Midnight Munchies is for anyone that does an important, forgot-about job at night. It’s an outreach thing,” he said. “There’s not any fanfare. There’s no confetti. We just drop it off and tell people this is all free and we appreciate what you’re doing.”Midnight Munchies has no office, no staff and no paperwork. It’s just Blair and his wife Emily; his best friend Sam Phillips and his girlfriend, Joelle Ford; and, more recently, volunteers from a youth group at First Christian Church in Elizabethton.They begin their Midnight Munchies runs by selecting an unsung late-night crew to treat to dinner, then visit a few restaurants to tell them what they’re up to and ask if they’d like to help. And when they can’t find a contributor, they pick up the tab themselves.“It really doesn’t take a lot, maybe $25 or $30 and you can feed five or six people and really make a big impact,” Blair said. “No matter what your political views are or what you think about health care, you want to be sure to take care of the people on your front lines. The point is let them know you’ve got their back and to reward people who, if you fall down the stairs in the middle of the night and snap your leg, we’re all glad they’re there.”With the help of a few of the people closest to him, Blair typically feeds five or six people — about the equivalent of the overnight staff on duty at any given fire hall or a hospital nurse station — three nights a week. Over the last six months, Midnight Munchies has fed 500 unsung heroes, Blair said. They’ve dropped off dinner in the Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Regional Medical Center and the emergency department at Holston Valley Medical Center. Fire and EMS stations in Johnson City and Elizabethton and the Emergency Department at Veterans Affairs Medical Center have all been recipients of their appreciation. And Blair is continuously working to grow his list of midnight destinations.For those wanting to help with the appreciation efforts, Blair said you can sponsor a delivery by picking up the bill at a participating restaurant (no donations ever come directly to Midnight Munchies) or make a delivery yourself to expand the outreach. To learn more, visit the Midnight Munchies page on Facebook or to contact Blair at 833-8091 or blair.danielm.@gmail.com.



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