02/16/2017
On November 6th, 2013, my family and I set out on a journey. It was exciting and terrifying one all at the same time. John and I wanted a better life for our son, Johnny, more specifically, but also for our daughter and other son. We were honored to be taking over the Lio legacy all while trying to make the pizza shop our own. We have lived in this community, raised our children here, built our dream home and now we were business owners in our beloved home town. Our Linglestown, our home, our heart.
Over the years we have had many wonderful employees who have left their footprints in one way or another in our lives. Some for the good and some not so much. For myself, I have failed my husband, my children and our staff (which I hate calling them that because they are more like family). I have also failed our community. I shoulder this responsibility because my best was just not good enough. With every equipment failure, every set back I kept praying something would happen and everything would be “OK”, but no matter how many tears I cried nor how many prayers I prayed nothing changed. We are not rich people and we have no money to fall back on. Our home is tied to this business, which we stand to lose, and no matter how many sacrifices my family or staff made we simply could not overcome our debit. I don’t say all of this to make you feel sorry for me, it’s the people I love who I have let down that I feel the most sorry for. No decision I made was going to be a good one and they are suffering for my inadequacies.
So the long and short of our sad tale is that we tried. We gave it our best but in the end MY best was not good enough. Even if by some miracle we managed to get the money we needed, I’m not sure my heart is in it anymore. When you put yourself out there in this business you open yourself up to all kinds of criticism. Social media and keyboard warriors have broken my spirit and I don’t think I can recover from that. There are some people, not all but some, who will tear you to shreds for the slightest imperfection or perceived slight. They won’t come to you but take to social media and cut you down every which way to Sunday! Maybe I am simply not cut out for this. I take everyone and everything to heart and I give it my all. We have made plenty of mistakes, but we tried to learn from them. But NEVER did we do anything half way for our customers. The shear amount of man hours and sacrifices our family and staff have put into this business is mind blowing, and for anyone who has ever owned a business you know exactly what I’m saying. This is not how any of us envisioned our dream ending, we are heartbroken at the loss of our business. We are heartbroken for our staff. We are heartbroken that we let down the Lio Family and heartbroken we have let down our community. We don’t have the resources or money to save our business. I am heartily sorry to my family, to my staff and again to this community for letting you all down.
It was no one thing that lead us to this moment, just a series of events over time. And when you don’t have the money to keep it going at some point you have to put the key in the door one last time and say goodbye. I thank you for the countless words of encouragement we’ve received over the past two days. It means a lot to us. I’d like to thank you for the past three plus years for allowing us the privilege to serve you and become a part of your lives. The memories I will cherish forever. To the customers who became our friends, we miss you already and can’t imagine not seeing you weekly to hear of what new tales you had to share with us. To all of the many people and organizations I’d also like to say thank you, and I’m hoping you know who you are, for your continued support after we took over and for the following years since. If anyone has a place at their business or job that you could recommend for my staff, they are the ones who are hurt the most by all of this, I would appreciate you reaching out to them. There is no way I can make this right for them.
To my staff, Tanya, Jerica, Angela, Rebecca, Cole and Kameron, no one could ask for better people to have work side by side with us. You have sacrificed and went way beyond and above for my family time and time again. You have been our rock when I needed you and I can’t say sorry enough for letting you down. I hope and pray you will one day find it within to forgive me and that you can someday look back with fondness on me, remember the laughs and even the tears and know that I do love you, despite what you may think of me at this moment. To my children…I can’t even begin to express my sorrow for having let you down. To my husband, you believed in me and once again you held my hand as I walked us down to the unknown and you too I have failed. I had dreams of being more than “just a pizza shop” and you trusted in me and I let you down. I am so sorry.
In closing I just want to say thank you again for your patronage and support over the past three plus years. This is an amazing community and anyone who lives here knows this to be true. We hope you will remember us, not just for the food but more for we made you feel like family. I am sorry if I have rambled on, it’s hard to type and cry at the same time and keep a clear head. Finally, thank you for the memories. Our family will cherish them forever!
Dawn Packer
Owner/President Packer’s Pizza
