By Quentin Lehn SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Chef Ryan Zabatany has been working with Gill Grilling, the cooking company that many fraternities and sororities use, for a little less than a year. According to Zabatany, he doesn’t see himself anywhere but where he is now.
“I told my wife the other day, just how much fun I have waking up and going to work and interact with these guys,” he said.
Recently, his wife Laurie-Ann underwent heart surgery and is planning on going again in a couple of weeks. With their anniversary coming up, Zabatany wanted to give her something special. When he asked some of the brothers at Delta Upsilon fraternity about the watch details, he knew it was a perfect gift for his wife.
“There’s this cool ECG (electrocardiogram) app that she could use, and a constant heartbeat monitor,” he said. “I thought it would be convenient given the situation we’re in.”
When one fraternity member, Aziz Al-Sulaiti, heard that he couldn’t afford it, he knew he had to step in.
“Ryan does a lot for this house, and we respect him a ton for that,” Al-Sulaiti said. “He’s part of our family.”
Aziz went into his groupchats with the fraternity and told them the situation. He said the reaction surprised him.
“Even some guys put upwards of you know $40 just to make sure he gets it and within a day, less than 24 hours, we were able to raise a full amount of getting an apple watch,” Al-Sulaiti said.
His wife wasn’t able to make it to the interview, and Zabatany didn’t have too many words to describe the action.
“I was speechless and I am very seldom speechless,” he said. “I try not to cry, and it was an amazing moment and I was so honored and blessed.”
He and his wife plan to pay back the fraternity in the near future. For now he says that this kind of act enforces the respect he has for this group of people.
