Already young Andreas Hambos exhibits an enviable work ethic, helping his family every Saturday morning at the Blairstown Farmers’ Market. They run a very popular food stand Yianni & Yiayia’s Little Taste of Greece! from 9:30 to 1 PM., featuring traditional Greek food.
It’s a family affair in that alongside his parents, cousins, uncles and aunts, young Andreas gets to the Market early to set up, works as needed and stays till the end to clean up the site. During business hours, he’s right in the midst of the hustle & bustle of servicing eager patrons at a busy Market. He’s always pleasant, knowledgeable about the cuisine and willing to help people carry their bags to their cars. His breaks come to visit with other vendors, deliver food to these often-harried vendors and when he meets virtually every dog that visits the Market.
He says he starts the night before getting all of the heaters necessary for their fresh shish-kabob operation. He started out getting ice holders, much like small inflatable pens, and water plus cleaners ready and has now ‘graduated’ to helping with the vital heaters.
Saturday mornings he comes to the Market with his mom and Aunt. On other days, when he’s not busy with school and sports at Blairstown Elementary School, he says he helps out at the family’s store by the same name, in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He says the work is fun and he sees a future in food service to maybe run the business one day.
Young Andreas is following a long, local family tradition in that his grandparents ran the Blairstown Ice Cream store for many years, before giving it to his parents when he was a baby. His parents later sold it to raise their family, but soon chose food service again.
A well-rounded young boy, Andreas excels in freestyle basketball at school, football, and enjoys Math, Science and English Literature. He loves Art and plans to sign up for the Gifted & Talented Program where he’ll have his drawing framed.
Why is this behavior so remarkable? It’s refreshing and holds promise that this child, in learning the value of work, will stay free of the entrapments of social media for as long as possible.
Desi L. Dunn, Managing Editor
Born & educated in NY with a 1988 Environmental Science degree from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, my husband and I reside in Hardwick with our young daughter and several spoiled pets. This is a true gem in Northwest New Jersey, and my commitment to the people and environs has been shown in the many different fields I've worked - municipal & county official, election clerk, open space plan writer, newspaper & radio journalist, grant writer, events coordinator and farm market manager as well as retail, waitressing, archiological digger and once for a short while in a very huge warehouse.
My favorite job was as a reporter for many years with the Recorder newspapers, Blairstown Press, Paulinskill Chronicle, Gannett publications plus WNTI Public Radio producing public affairs and human interest stories on-air.
I often have my cell phone ready to capture some of the interesting people and stories around us. I'm thrilled to now serve as RVE's Managing Editor and hope to help fellow writers hone their skills and show you the issues as well as treasures that exist in North Warren, through their eyes.
