Celebrate Wellness hosting free wellness events for hospitality industry, community | Business

Celebrate Wellness, an initiative of La Vida Hospitality, is hosting free wellness events for hospitality workers and the community.

“Creating connections and lending a helping hand are the cornerstone of La Vida Hospitality and the Celebrate Wellness initiative,” representatives said. “La Vida Hospitality’s Celebrate Wellness is committed to promoting wellness for our community and hospitality workers, to improve lives. This is achieved through education, financial support and connections to wellness experts.”

“La Vida Hospitality created our Celebrate Wellness initiative because there is a profound need to focus on it in the hospitality industries,” said Josh Grapski, managing partner. “Our industry is made up of primarily young people who are seeking financial opportunity, but still trying to figure out life. Offering them education on all facets of wellness is a benefit we think will have large value to them.”

La Vida’s Celebrate Wellness program, led by Kathy McDonald, director of Community Development, has hosted two free wellness sessions for hospitality workers and the community. The first, led by Ryan Ennis and Lo Tibbitts from Beyond the Bar, focused on techniques and tips for hospitality workers to “Crush Summer,” such as how to create an achievable savings plan and budget, planning healthy meals to stay energized throughout the long summer shifts, ways to alleviate stress and come through summer healthy and with a nice chunk of money in the bank.

The second session was led by Dr. Uday Jani, an integrative health doctor. He spoke about eating the rainbow, all the brightly colored fruits and vegetables, the benefits of fermented foods and probiotics for good gut health, lowering inflammation and methods for relaxation through breathwork.

Five more sessions are planned throughout the year. Each session will focus on at least one aspect of the “wellness wheel,” which focuses on seven aspects of life that, when balanced, are said to assure wellness: social, intellectual, physical, environmental, emotional, spiritual and financial.

“The goal is to check in with yourself, evaluate how you are doing, and highlight any imbalances that might be preventing you from living a happy and healthy life. Wellness is an active process in which an individual becomes aware of and makes choices towards a more healthy life.”

McDonald is known to say, “It feels good to give,” “And that’s what Celebrate Wellness is all about — giving back to our industry and the people it impacts. This special initiative, while long overdue, will provide resources Kathy wishes she was equipped with when stepping into the hospitality world 40 years ago,” representatives said.

Recently, McDonald made the switch from catering to community, and she hasn’t looked back since. For more than a decade, McDonald was the catering director for La Vida, and now, she said, she’s excited to divert her energy to what she loves most: the community.

“Giving isn’t just an arbitrary word to Kathy — it’s something that runs in her blood and fuels her passion for what she does every day. Leading the charge behind the development of Celebrate Wellness, Kathy is active in the community and steadfast in dedicating her time to important causes. Running holiday bike drives, volunteering at the Community Resource Center, and serving on the Board of Directors at the Bethany-Fenwick Chamber are just a few of those honorable accolades. Now, as Celebrate Wellness’s Director, Kathy will spearhead efforts for our community-focused initiatives to invest in the mental, emotional, physical, and nutritional wellness of our industry and our neighbors. It’s been said that ‘the greatest wealth is health’ and McDonald couldn’t be more eager to help her peers invest in that wealth.”

This summer will be the kickoff of the Celebrate Wellness program. Celebrate Wellness will be hosting their inaugural fundraiser on June 15 at the Big Chill Beach Club. The 2023 top-level sponsors for this program currently include Sysco, Carl M. Freeman Foundation, Midway Fitness, Schell Brothers and Ocean Atlantic-Sotheby’s.

By the fall of 2023, La Vida’s program hopes to have raised enough funding to be able to financially support those in hospitality who seek better wellness but may not be able to afford expert advice. Any hospitality worker who is unable to afford needed treatment for emotional, physical or financial wellness will be supported with the funds raised. This will include connections to financial advisors, mental health experts and therapists, nutritional professionals.

Funds raised will be not for profit, used solely for investment in individuals in the hospitality industry, and geared towards offering services through expert partnerships to offer assistance with wellness.

La Vida Hospitality is a hospitality and entertainment management company based out of Rehoboth Beach. They are the managing partner of Crooked Hammock Brewery, with locations in Lewes and Middletown, and in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the Big Chill Beach Club in North Bethany, and Taco Reho and the Big Chill Surf Cantina in Rehoboth Beach.

More information about La Vida Hospitality can be found online at www.lavidahospitality.com.