Olive Garden Thanks First Responders on Labor Day

The Miller Hill Mall location served meals to the Duluth Fire Department on Monday.

DULUTH, Minn. – While the Duluth Fire Department and local first responders across the country spent Labor Day serving its community, over 800 Olive Gardens decided to give a ‘thank you’ to those workers.

The Miller Hill Mall location gave meals to the Duluth Fire Department to let them know they’re appreciated and they see the hard work they put in to serve the community each day.

“It’s just so you can give back to the people that serve our country and our community. It makes it so much better when you go out and donate on those days than on a different day,” manager in training Robert Sanvig said.

And the firefighters appreciated the meal, giving them one less thing to think about while they were working the crazy busy holiday.

“We’re here regardless so it’s nice for somebody else to understand that and appreciate that, they go through the same thing too so it’s nice to get the food donated to us and for them to recognize that we’re here doing our job too,” Captain Aaron Bujold said.

The lunch for the firefighters was free and included three different types of pasta, three sauces, three meats, salad and of course, breadsticks.

More than 850 Olive Garden locations have served more than 12 thousand meals to first responders since this program started in 2002.