Family history stuff

Landon did a quick look for me and found the following information:

Mary Laura Roberto/Ruberto (b)7/27/1903 - came to the US when she was 18 or 19 and came alone. Last name is spelled both ways in various documents.

Joseph Peter/Pascale Torre Sr. (b)1/5/1897 - came to the US when he was 5 with his family. His given middle name was Pascale. Mom said she recalls him being called that. Salerno was the town registered when they came over.

Angelo Torre (b)1867 (grandpa's father)
Mary Roberto (b)1877 (grandma's mother)

A small victory

You can make a difference. Yes, YOU! It just takes a little effort.

I've stopped using drinking straws unless what I am drinking really needs one. This has been a 'thing' for quite some time now and I hadn't been really thinking about it any more. A friend's recent post about how plastic litter drinking straws add up to got me thinking about what else I could do. Just not using straws is not enough. Many restaurants give you one whether you ask for one or not. If I can't just hand it back to the server/refuse it, I put the straws in a 'safe' place on the table, but that's it. Time for me to up my game.

Fast forward to Gregory and I trying a new place to eat last week called Metro Diner. I was given a straw and set it in a place where it wouldn't get wet/dirty. (I also tried to order seltzer/soda water but they didn't have that.) But I kept thinking about that straw and hoping that it just wouldn't end up in the trash unused.

When we got home, I decided to write Metro Diner and explain why giving out straws without them being requested is not good for the environment (and quite frankly, saves them money, although I didn't mention that in my letter). I also asked if they would consider adding a soda water button to their soda taps.

The reply came within 14 hours!

"Thank you for contacting us and we are glad to hear about your experiences with Metro Diner! We are actually working on getting a soda water tab installed to our drink machine and are currently just waiting on Coke to come out and get it done so look for that soon. I really like your idea with the straws and will actually be teaching and coaching my team to do just that. We always welcome ideas from our guests and we thank you for your input. Have a wonderful day!"

And today, I received another email from someone else in their organization...

"Thank you for your feedback from your Metro Diner experience. We will be adding soda water to all the Virginia locations! Thank you so much for reaching out.

Have a great day!"

For what it's worth, it has taken me longer to write this post than it did for me to contact Metro Diner about straws and seltzer.