So you think there’s no such thing as a free lunch? That’s not the case if you are a local law enforcement officer picking up lunch at the City Line Deli in White Plains, New York. Lunch is on John Blumberg. No strings attached.
John Blumberg, General Agent of the White Plains Agency, TrueNorth, has partnered with the local deli to provide free lunch to all persons who come in and show their badge.
On average, that’s 50 lunches a week to local officers all on John. “They love it. They get it and they appreciate it.” John has known the owner of City Line Deli, Vinny King, for 25 years, and both are advocates for supporting local law enforcement officers.
According to John, this public gesture of appreciation has been a long time coming, and he launched the lunch program shortly after the tragic shootings of police officers in Dallas in July. That was the tipping point. John’s appreciation for law enforcement started when he was just 17 years old and witnessed the murder of a close friend. “It was a freak, random crime and having to go through that was horrible, and it opened my eyes to just how hard law enforcement officers work. During the investigation, every one of those guys was fantastic, and smart and unbelievable. That’s when I first got really impressed,” John shared.
John Blumberg with Vinny King, owner of City Line Deli
John lives in Putnam County, New York, which is 50 miles outside of New York City, and home to many NYPD and NYFD officers. “It’s really the first county outside of the city where law enforcement officers can afford to live,” John commented. Which in turn means that the majority of John’s friends and neighbors are police officers and firefighters.
“Our whole family is very friendly with all the local law enforcement. For these guys, every day is 9/11. It’s a war zone. They are working in some very tough neighborhoods.” And everyone in the community remembers the impact of 9/11, especially John’s agents who delivered 41 life insurance death benefit checks after the attacks.
John has a history of giving back, including the work that he and his son do with their draft horses to serve their community. And before joining National Life, John directed a client appreciation fund to renting an amusement park for 1,000 family members of military members who were serving in Iraq at the time. The man likes to do good, and his agents at TrueNorth are on board.
Agents at TrueNorth are also frequent customers at City Line, which is just across the street from their office. And now, they’ve gotten to know many of the local officers at lunchtime. Often, local officers make the connection and will say, “Hey, you work at the building there, you work at TrueNorth? Thanks.”
John remarked, “We might get some sales out of it, but who knows. We do it to show we care.”
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