Giving is Pargh for the Course
By Hedy Bass
You may know him as The Gadget Guru. For a decade, Orlando’s Andy Pargh enlightened and entertained audiences as a contributing correspondent on the TODAY show in the ‘80s and ‘90s. One part journalist, one part businessman, and one part showman, Andy gained renown for being an expert on consumer electronics and new technologies. One of his best-known segments on the TODAY show featured Andy teaching then-host Matt Lauer how to use the internet to send and receive email. Since beginning his career with Texas Instruments in the late 1970s, Andy has spent a lifetime involved in new products and technology. Though he’s claimed to have retired more than once, the former Tennessean, who now calls Central Florida home, remains as busy as ever.
A man of many interests and passions, Andy has been a charitable supporter of many local organizations. As the founder of The Pargh Foundation, funded by the charitable trusts of his parents, Madeline and Eugene Pargh, Andy has been able to provide gifts, grants, and endowments to organizations in Tennessee, Florida, and around the world that honor his parents’ legacy of giving.
When the COVID-19 pandemic upended businesses and profoundly impacted essential workers, especially those in the medical community, Andy brought the powers of his business acumen, problem-solving, and philanthropy to help.
“I saw that healthcare workers were overwhelmed, and I wondered what I could do,” he says.
With a focus on the Jewish community, Andy reached out to several organizations, including The Jewish Pavilion, The Roth Family JCC, and Hillel at Stetson University, with the idea of feeding people on the frontlines of the pandemic.
Working with Megan Yarmuth of Toasted, the famed Central Florida restaurant known for gastronomically elevating the classic American grilled cheese sandwich, Andy was able to provide funding to the restaurant’s Toasted Food Truck allowing the kitchen-on-wheels to visit multiple locations to feed frontline workers.
When Andy offered funds to The Jewish Pavilion to provide meals for staff at several of the senior facilities where there are Jewish residents, Pavilion leaders couldn’t have been more delighted.
“It was incredibly generous of Andy to come to us with the idea,” says Nancy Ludin, CEO of The Jewish Pavilion. “I contacted eight of our sponsoring facilities to let them know I wanted to thank them for being so wonderful to us. I was especially excited to learn that Toasted could provide kosher meals. Staff at each location had a full-course meal of grilled cheese, coleslaw, mac and cheese, cookie, and beverage. It was a great way for us to say thank-you for what they do.”
Nancy estimates approximately 400 meals were served.
In May, the Toasted food truck also visited The Roth Family JCC, providing meals for more than 90 JCC employees and their families and fed every resident and staffer at the Kinneret Apartments.
“I was so thrilled when Andy called to talk about the idea of providing meals for The Roth Family JCC employees,” says Keith Dvorchik, CEO. “Over the past few months, our employees have dealt with unparalleled challenges, and through Andy’s generosity and Toasted, we were able to do something nice for them. Seeing the smiles on their faces, the joy in their eyes, was priceless. I will never be able to sufficiently thank Andy, The Pargh Foundation, and Toasted for what they did for our employees.”
Andy’s philanthropy has extended to AdventHealth in DeLand and Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, and to Stetson University. As of early May, approximately 3,000 meals have been served by the Toasted Food Truck, thanks to The Pargh Foundation’s funding.
As Andy sees it, it’s a win-win for all.
“We’re saying thank you to nurses, staffers, cleaners, EMT personnel, firefighters, police, and people who have been furloughed,” Andy says. “We just want them to know we’re thinking of them. In doing this, we’re also giving business to local restaurants. I like getting things done. We can see a need and implement a program overnight. That’s the benefit of being nimble.”
Through The Pargh Foundation, Andy continues to embody the legacy of his parents, Madeline and Eugene, people who understood that even the smallest gesture of recognition and kindness can indeed be a very big deal.