JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Employees of the Cheesecake Factory at the St. Johns Town Center have started a fundraiser to help their coworkers through the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A small group of staff keeps the restaurant open for to-go orders and deliveries but hundreds of other employees are now without jobs.

A couple of employees had the idea to start a GoFundMe page to raise money to give each of those 209 employees $1,000 to help pay rent and keep food on the table.

They are some of the faces that normally greet you when you walk into the Town Center Cheesecake Factory.

Server Sheryl Detrich said she cares for its customers.

“We are definitely more than just a chain restaurant," Detrich said.

Birthdays, engagements, graduations, all celebrated with servers alongside.

“We even did a gender reveal at our restaurant for a couple. We take that very serious and we consider than our family as well so we’re hoping they reach back out and help us," she said.

Nationwide, restaurant and bar staff are without jobs struggling to make ends meet.

Detrich knows these are hard times for many including her fellow 200 coworkers.

“It’s absolutely devastating,” Detrich said. “We have a lot of employees that cannot pay rent, cannot buy groceries right now can’t pay any other bills. We’re not getting anything from unemployment at this time, everything seems to be in a hold in place that’s there for us there are some relief funds out there that all of us have a plied to but that’s a waiting game. But everybody’s life still has to go on and bills have to be paid."

The goal is to raise $209,000.

If you want to donate, click here.