Santa with Soul: Chef Sandi’s stimulus plan brightens COVID holidays in Morristown

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By Marion Filler and Kevin Coughlin

 

What do you want for Christmas?

“Food,” Tawanda Wilfong replied on the application. The widowed mother of five thought she might receive a $25 gift card.

But when Wilfong showed up at Sandi’s soul food restaurant in Morristown over the weekend, the Wharton resident got a Christmas check so stunning, she went back and asked owner Sandra McNeil Rogers if she really meant to give that amount.

“Yes,” Rogers told her. “Just do the right thing with it.”

Another 123 people tasted similar generosity–hundreds of dollars, in some cases–from Rogers, also a single parent of five children. After an unexpected windfall in 2010, she now finds herself in a position to give back.

People line up outside Sandi’s for gift cards before Thanksgiving 2020. Photo: SandiSoulBites.com

“To whom much is given, much is required,” said Rogers, a woman of faith. “We wanted to make sure that people at least have something on the table at Christmas and something under the tree. That’s why we did it. It’s the right thing to do.”

In Greek, the name Sandra means “protector of man.” Rogers’ preferred moniker is Chef Sandi, a nod to her studies at the Institute of Culinary Education. 

She also gleaned kitchen smarts from her grandmother, who instilled a passion for “cooking with love and soul” — the motto of the restaurant Rogers opened last year on Speedwell Avenue.

When the restaurant’s Facebook page invited people to register for “Sandi’s Holiday Giveaway,” the site lit up with 211 applicants. Rogers and her family screened them based on household size and needs.

There were a few glitches along the way. When gift cards from Target and ShopRite ran out, they were replaced with checks for cash.

For the Wilfongs, Rogers’ check will mean their first real Christmas since Tawanda’s husband died from lung cancer in December 2017.

“I’m very spiritual. I took her giving me that gift as a sign not only from God that he loves me, but also my husband up in heaven saying, ‘Baby, do Christmas like we used to do Christmas.’  My husband and I would go all out for Christmas,” said Wilfong, whose children range from ages 17 to 29.

This year, they will have multiple gifts and a dinner, said the mom, who learned to appreciate compassion during a life’s journey that has included homelessness and recovery from substance abuse. Through the pandemic, Wilfong said, she has been scraping by on reduced hours at her job in the hospitality industry.

Thanks to Rogers, “it’s going to be a lovely Christmas, in spite of our pain and this COVID pandemic,” Wilfong said. “It’s a total blessing and I am 1,000 percent grateful for it.”

Another recipient, a young single mother who did not wish to share her name, said Rogers’ goodwill was a lifeline.

“This money is exactly what we needed right before Christmas. I got goosebumps and cried tears of joy,” said the Morristown woman, also struggling in the COVID crisis.

“The reality is we’re just getting by. It’s been a pretty bad year,” she said. Rogers’ gift, given without strings, defines “genuine compassion and unconditional love,” the woman said.

REVERSAL OF FORTUNES

Rogers’ children, who worked at the restaurant before it closed for the pandemic, helped hand out the cheer.

“There was so much gratitude. People were crying, and I get choked up talking about it,” said Roger, a former Morris School District board member. A private person, she shuns the spotlight.

The first gift card giveaway came before Thanksgiving. Soon after, two individuals won cash awards for Giving Tuesday. Rogers anticipates an annual Christmas giveaway, with similar events as long as people need help in the pandemic.

Inside Sandi’s on Speedwell in Morristown. Photo: SandiSoulBites.com

Rogers understands their plight. She moved in and out of group homes before leaving Brooklyn to live with her grandparents in Georgia at age 14. Her grandmother was a cook at Georgia Southern University.

“Everything I know about cooking, I learned from her,” Rogers said.

She moved to Staten Island, and eventually had to flee with her children to a Jersey Battered Women’s Service shelter. She emerged to serve on the Morris School District board, and worked for the Morris County Sherriff’s Office.

Rogers continues to support agencies that helped her, including the battered women’s service, the Interfaith Food Pantry and nourish.NJ.

“They absolutely came through for me every single time,” she said.

In 2010, Rogers’ life changed dramatically when she won the Powerball lottery. It enabled her to give back to the community, and to fulfill her dream of opening a restaurant. After attending the Institute of Culinary Education in New York — where she thrived as one the older students in her class —  she opened a catering service, in Boonton.

But she was determined to bring fried catfish, collard greens and soulbread to Morristown. She bought a former auto glass repair shop on Bank Street, at first planning to erect a dance studio. After a long battle, she won town approvals to retrofit the shop for a restaurant.

Wary of more legal wrangles on Bank Street, she is scouting for another location…while making people happy as the Santa of Speedwell.

Rogers’ gifts will resonate with Tawanda Wilfong and others long after the holiday leftovers are consumed.

“I’m still in disbelief. Wow. Amazing,” Wilfong said. “That’s something she did not have to do.”

Rogers would disagree. She hopes to inspire her “6 1/2” grandchildren. (One is on the way.)

“They see us all at the restaurant working, they see us giving. They see it’s just the right thing to do,” she said.

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