Food is Love Care Kits are offered by some Dallas restaurants in a grass-roots effort to provide first responders and front line medical workers with grocery staples. Each kit also includes a ready-made meal.
Participating restaurants include AvoEatery, Saint Rocco’s, Kate Weiser Chocolates, Cake Bar, Sushi Bayashi, The Hall, Beto & Son, and Babb Brothers BBQ.
Food is Love Care Kits
Food is Love Care Kits are donated to local hospitals, including UT Southwestern Medical Center, for their staff. The kits are distributed to workers to enjoy a hearty dinner and breakfast the next morning.
The initiative provides local healthcare workers, who may be working ten to twelve hour shifts during the COVID-19 outbreak, with essential items. These workers might not have time to shop, since their attention is dedicated to keeping the community healthy.
To date, fifty kits have been provided to healthcare workers. With the community’s support, restaurants can create and donate hundreds more. To donate money, or a full kit, visit texashealthcareheroes.com. No money is retained for profit or fees, so 100% of donations are spent to provide the kits.
Texas Healthcare Heroes
A message on the Texas Healthcare Initiative site explains why they are providing the Food Is Love Care Kits. “Because food is our love language and in these times when we can’t shake your hand, or deliver a hug in person, we can help to feed you and get you the essential items you might not have time to get yourself.”
When local restaurants were asked to close their dining rooms, Alden Early started a GoFundMe account. With an initial private donation of $500, and matching donation from the Trinity Groves operations team, #TexasHealthcareHeroes was launched.
The meal kits are delivered to hospitals who have expressed interest in helping to feed their workers. In turn, they deliver the kits to individual workers. The goal is to deliver one hundred kits per week.
StaffMeal for Hospitality Workers
With many restaurant and hospitality workers unemployed due to COVID-19, StaffMeal is an initiative providing chef-crafted meals to industry members in need. FestEvents Foundation, in collaboration with Chef Nick Walker of Virgin Hotels Dallas, Chef Sharon Van Meter of SVM Productions, and Steve DeShazo of El Centro College, launched staffmeal.org, hoping to provide 2,400 chef-crafted meals every weekend.
Chef Nick and culinary team members prepare 300 to-go food packages with four servings of breakfast and four servings of lunch and/or dinner. The meals are available for no-touch pickup by appointment from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday beginning April 11. Pickup location at 3015 Trinity Groves (3015 Gulden Lane in Dallas). Recipients for the meals ill be vetted, and proof of past employment is required.
FestEvents Foundation
FestEvents Foundation Co-Founders Alison Matis and Cheryl Weis and their company, FestEvents Group, produce many popular Dallas food festivals. The events include Taste of Dallas, Park & Palate, Dallas Arboretum Food & Wine Festival, and Dallas Chocolate Festival. Assisted by marketing guru Emily Mantooth, they created Staff Meal to help solve the hunger crisis for restaurant industry friends and families during the COVID-19 crisis. Donations as small as $20 pays for ten meals. To donate, visit staffmeal.org.
“We started Staff Meal because many restaurant industry members are like second family to us and their peers. Thanks to our generous food partners, we are able to prepare a meal for a little over $2 at no cost to the recipient Our funding can only support a small percentage of the numerous low-income hospitality workers who were living paycheck to paycheck and now can’t afford food, rent, and basic necessities. Additional funding is essential so we can reach out to even more people,” Matis said.
