Look for the helpers.

"Look for the helpers. You will always see people helping." —Fred Rogers

We've been in a global pandemic for more than 400 days. We're still finding ways to help, and sometimes, that help is as simple as dining in or ordering take-out from our favorite restaurants. This industry has been hit hard. With our collective help, they'll make it through.

In a recent project with Visit Saint Paul, we highlight Tish Jones — a Poet, educator, and founder of TruArtSpeaks who calls this city home. We hear from Melvin Carter, Mayor of Saint Paul, and many chefs and owners of our favorite establishments in this capital city.

"We have a lot of work to do and we can only do it together. We're going to rebuild our city and we are going to kick off our amazing future...together." —Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter

Watch this inspiring video by clicking here: Dine Saint Paul

Tish Jones: Food is more than an industry. Food is life. It's sustenance. It's time for us to breathe life back into our city. For us to remember what it's like to be asked, Hey, would you like your usual? Or to be greeted with a wide smile as soon as we walked into the door of our favorite restaurants. Melvin Carter: Our local restaurants contribute enormously to our community, not just economically, but socially and culturally. And that's because of incredible restaurateurs and chefs who make these amazing bold visions come to life right here in Saint Paul. Deb Loch: My partner and I decided to open Urban Growler because we wanted to bring people together. Antonio Murry: People really like the Lexington, this place is an institution. Milissa Silva: El Burrito's been around since 1979. And it started originally as a little Mercado and it evolved over the years. Justin Sutherland: I love Saint Paul. I mean, everybody knows I'm a Saint Paul guy, and, you know, this community has stood behind us through it all. Tish Jones: To remember the time we saw Justin Sutherland on television, representing our great state and the culinary prowess of our town, or when we first stepped foot inside of Handsome Hawk. Dining isn't just about our consumption of food. It's about the relationship to the place and the people. People like Chai and Marlene over at Mango Thai on Selby Avenue. Two restaurant owners who take the time to talk to you. To notice if you have a new hairstyle, to learn your palette enough to suggest a new dish. It's about the coffee shop with the meeting room, where dreams are built, music is made, and generation after generation after generation are welcomed. Stephanie Shimp: Never did I dream that we would be working through a pandemic. And now that the doors are open, we can take care of people again and find those little reasons to celebrate. Deb Loch: The community has kept us alive quite honestly. We needed help and our customers stepped up. Milissa Silva: To see that they're actually coming in and filling the seats in is very hopeful. We're all still here. And we're all still in this together. I can get emotional about this for real. Tish Jones: It's about the future. And Saint Paul has always been a city that sees the future, and the future requires us to recall the joys of exaggerated whiffs of good food; overzealous hellos booming from across the room. The times that we used to kick it. Fellowship built, break bread together. The nieces and nephews behind the register that make up that mom and pop feel that we've grown to love. Antonio Murry: It takes a village to raise a family. And I think that it takes a village to support a restaurant. Justin Sutherland: Thank you to everybody that stuck with us through this. Deb Loch: I want to say, thank you so much for your support. We would not be here without you. So please continue. Melvin Carter: We have a lot of work to do, and we can only do it together. We're going to rebuild our city and we're going to kick off our amazing future together. Tish Jones: So let's eat. Let's eat for the industry, for the community, for our city and all that it has done for us. Let's breathe life back into it. It won't be the same, but until it is, let's dial up our favorite brewery, order to go from the Taste of Rondo and find dine ourselves with takeout until we get back to our restaurant of choice. So that we have a place, a people, a culture, and a food community to return to. Let's eat, Saint Paul. Let's eat.