While restaurants are struggling to stay open, some have diverted their attention away from takeout and delivery and towards helping serve hospitals whose medical staff are in need of food while dealing with the influx of patients.
Chef JJ of FieldTrip Harlem sent 40 bowls of rice to the medical staff of Harlem Hospital Center. According to his Twitter feed, Chef JJ and his team are continuing to send food to hospitals near their Harlem restaurant.
Similar to FieldTrip, a NYC Pizzeria, Sauce Pizzeria, has all hands on deck to donate hundreds of pizzas per day to feed hospital workers. At their East Village location, Sauce Pizzeria is currently delivering to 40 different hospitals in all five boroughs, according to NBC New York.
Across the city, many restaurants have set up GoFundMe’s for their employees as a relief fund during this difficult time. One restaurant in particular, East Village Taiwanese 886 owned by Eric Sze, set up a Venmo account accepting donations for their staff of seven. Sze’s $7,000 goal was surpassed in over a week, reaching over $20,000 in donations.
With this surplus of funds, Sze began donating microwaveable bento boxes to hospitals’ medical staff. As of March 27th, Sze had served more than 875 bento boxes to 12 NYC hospitals, according to Eater New York.
Donation efforts are continuing to be seen all over the city, with chain restaurants including Just Salad, Mighty Quinn’s, and Panda Express all donating hundreds to thousands of meals to healthcare workers.
As we continue to face these challenging times, it’s heartwarming to see businesses coming together to help those in need. No matter how big or little the donation, our healthcare workers are putting their lives on the line each day and it is important to remind them how much we appreciate them.