In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, an initiative has launched to help nourish our healthcare workers while helping our local restaurants.
Since its launch over three weeks ago, Frontline Foods is in 46 cities and have delivered over 160,000 meals nationwide.
Here locally, a group of women launched the Miami chapter where they’ve gathered some our favorite local restaurants and premiere medical facilities to join and benefit from Frontline Foods.
“Right now, restaurants are struggling tremendously. Now, we are paying restaurants to provide meals to those who are sacrificing their lives every day in the emergency rooms and medical centers. They are really just heroes. It works for both of them and it’s great to see how we’ve been able to positively impact both industries,” said Lauren Melamed of Frontline Foods Miami
Participating restaurants must follow CDC health guidelines in order to join, as meals are individually packaged and must provide a minimum of 50 meals.
“In the beginning phase, we reached out to some of our key restaurants here in Miami. Ones we knew were open and operating in the takeout capacity. We wanted to ensure that their facilities were still abiding by CDC guidelines. Obviously, having these meals go to hospitals, we’re extra cautious of that and we want to make sure that this is something that benefits them,” said Shana Kaufman of Frontline Foods Miami.
Shana and Lauren assure the restaurants provide fresh and healthy meals.
“We’re really trying to give them a culinary experience to enjoy at the hospital. Most of these medical staff can’t even think of what their next meal is. We wanted to really give them something they can really savor and enjoy. We make sure that they have a protein, carb, and vegetable so that they have enough energy to carry them out throughout the day. We’re doing lunch and dinners,” said Melamed.
Participating restaurant, Latin Cafe 2000, prepares about 700 meals for Jackson Memorial and Mount Sinai Hialeah in just one week. CEO of Latin Cafe 200, Eric Castellanos says Frontline Foods is not only a lifeline to healthcare workers but to restaurant businesses as well.
“Watching everyone come together was inspiring and we kept on struggling with the fact of how do we give back. We wanted to help in anyway we could. Frontline [Foods] was a miracle, it came out of nowhere. We got the opportunity to help others and help ourselves,” said Castellanos.
Currently, 27 local restaurants and 13 hospitals are in the Miami chapter. And Frontline Foods Miami has delivered over 10,000 meals.
If you want to know more information, donate, if you’re physician wanting to nourish your team, or a local restaurant wanting to participate in the organization then head on over to frontlinefoods.org/miami.
