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Mamadou 'Sav' Savanè
A fund established to aid the owner of two campus area businesses who was badly burned in a kitchen accident last week has already surpassed its goal of $50,000 to help in the recovery.
Mamadou 'Sav' Savanè, owner of Sav’s Grill & West African Cuisine and Sav’s Chill, located on opposite corners of Limestone and Maxwell, fell in his kitchen last week at Sav’s Grill while holding a 20 gallon pot of boiling peanut sauce.
Savanè sustained extreme burns over more than half of his body, including his face, neck, arms and torso, in the incident. He has since been transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit but remains at the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Hospital, according to his wife Rachel Savanè, owner of downtown Lexington business Savanè Silver.
With Sav in the hospital, where he’s expecting an extended stay and months of recovery before he can return to work, Rachel and her three children are pitching in at both food establishments.
A fund established by Chevy Chaser’s parent company Smiley Pete Publishing through the site GiveForward.com is aiming to raise money for Savanè over the next few months to assist him in his recovery. While he does have health insurance, the campaign aims to help with additional medical costs as well as the out-of-pocket expense of keeping Sav’s Grill and Sav’s Chill in business, as well as helping the Savanè family as time is split between their three small businesses during Sav’s recovery.
Within the last month Sav Savanè taught his 19-year-old son, Bangaly Savanè, the family recipes for Sav’s Grill, none of which had been written down until recently. Bangaly Savanè will oversee the restaurant in his father’s absence.
A series of events to help raise money are in the works including a Feast of Love for Sav on Monday, June 16 at the Smiley Pete Publishing’s office at 434 Old Vine St.
Taking place from 6-10 p.m., the event will feature a watch party of "MasterChef," a Fox reality show hosted by Gordon Ramsey that includes Lexington’s Dan Wu among this season’s contestants. The event will feature food, drinks and more donated by area restaurants. Wu will be in attendance.
A Facebook event has been created for the initial event (click here) and an overall page to update Sav’s status has also been established (click here).
Sav's Grill and Sav's Chill both remain open for business.