Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Diamondback Fundraiser For An Injured Friend

Think about Diamondback Tavern this Sunday to help out a local waiter who was badly injured trying to break up a fight.

The folks who own Diamondback and Portalli's are holding a fundraiser at Diamondback from 6 to 10 pm Sunday to help pay medical bills for Rob Groomes, a lead server at Portalli's who was assulted when he tried to break up a fight at a house party.  He has no insurance.  He needs extensive plastic surgery on his face and eye.

They're charging a $5 cover and donating 25% of the food bills for Groomes.  Lee Biars, who helps run the PR for the two restaurants, let me know about the fundraiser:
Rob is the nicest and most harmless guy you would ever meet and what happened to him is truly disgusting.  
Not only is Rob one of our best servers at either restaurant, he's very genuine and always has a positive attitude regardless of how his day has been going (part of what makes him such a good server).   
Even after being attacked and stuck in his house until his wounds get better, he isn't down about it even though he has every reason to be.  The best thing that has come out of this tragedy is that we realize we aren't just a restaurant staff, but a family.  Many of our employees have gone out of their way to do something for Rob, bringing him food, checking up on him, or just keeping him company.  And for what it's worth, he has not once asked us to do anything for him.

8 comments:

Carole said...

If you cannot come to the event, can you just donate?

Anonymous said...

From the Diamondback/Portalli facebook pages:

A few people have asked where they can send donations to Rob. You can mail them to the restaurant or send paypal to lee@portallisec.com and we will make sure they get to him. Thank you all for your support.

Marcia said...

Great, I wondered the same thing. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Why does *he* have to pay the medical bills? Sounds like he needs to sue whoever assaulted him.

Leah said...

Diamondback Tavern is one of our go-to restaurants when I don't feel like cooking. And Portalli's is where we had one of our two wedding receptions. I probably know Rob if not by name, surely by face. So sorry to hear this.

Marcia said...

"He" can sue whoever but it wouldn't be a quick thing and the doctors/hospitals don't want to wait years for their money. And it takes money to sue. This is providing "he" can PROVE who did the assaulting.

So good to read people are trying to help.

Lee Biars said...

Thank you all for your kind words and help, and a big thanks to HowChow for helping to spread the word. A police investigation is ongoing and hopefully they will lock up the cowards that did this for a long, long time.

Lee Biars said...

Just to update, we raised nearly $3200 for Rob to help pay his medical bills! He's already had one very successful surgery and will be able to get back to work soon. People were amazing in their show of support, and we can't be thankful enough to everybody that helped out.