A Lexington non-profit is using food from shuttered restaurants to help feed kids, seniors
When Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday ordered restaurants to close their dining rooms, many were left with lots of food, lots of perishable food.
What do you do with all that food that can go to so many?
Some of it found its way to FoodChain, the non-profit commercial kitchen in downtown Lexington, where it has been turned into meals for distribution through Lexington food pantries, helping kids, seniors and those in need.
Becca Self, executive director of FoodChain, said the kitchen staff was already on it — before the donations started coming in.
“We saw an exploding need for food,” she said. “We went to making meals, with product we had on hand.”
They began delivering about 200 meals a day on Tuesday and now have added in food from local restaurants that began arriving almost immediately.
▪ Atomic Ramen and chef Dan Wu donated a huge amount of Lexington Pasta noodles, along with loads of pork as well.
▪ Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse donated haricot vert and other ingredients including proteins.
▪ The City Center Marriott donated almost 40 gallons of milk, and half and half, plus lots of specialty items.
“We’ve also gotten donations from farmers, including Boone’s Butcher Shop and Blue Moon Farms,” Self said. “We’ve also been able to pull in many local produce items that we’ve had on hand to process (or have already processed and/or grown), including FoodChain lettuce and greens, apples, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, and more.”
And some of the workers from local restaurants have been pitching in as well, she said in an email. “As for talent, I know we’ve gotten lots of meal prep help from Tonya Mays-Cronin, Phillip Cronin, Balinda Weathers (of Atomic Ramen), Agnes Marrero (from Smithtown), Amber Lawrence and Hannah Arvin (current LEE Initiative class of 2020).”
“Everybody’s trying to help,” she said.
FoodChain is working with God’s Pantry Food Bank, which coordinates food for many food pantries around the area. Together they are talking to social service providers at city, schools and county level to figure out what the plans are going forward, especially with Fayette County Public Schools ceasing service during spring break week (March 30-April 3).
This week, Mayor Linda Gorton’s office announced that city employees and volunteers will begin putting together food boxes that God’s Pantry can distribute at its sites to help families avoid shopping the pantries in a crowd.
“These boxes hold enough food to feed an average family for a week,” Gorton said. The food bank estimates 10,000 food boxes will be needed per month in Fayette County and some of the broader 50-county service area.
They have been sending out meals to their neighborhood and to the Cambridge Drive food pantry this week, and hope to expand to others, as well as low-income senior apartments and the FCPS “Bus Bites” feeding program for anyone 18 or under.
“Food pantries see a growing need now for prepared meals,” Self said. “And that is a unique niche we think can fill.”
She said they are trying to figure out ways to ramp up production while keeping the staff safe. They are looking for volunteers (although she is hoping to line up some funding) who have commercial kitchen experience who might be able to work in four-hour shifts to keep the kitchen going while limiting the numbers of people in there at any one time.
And restaurants are jumping to help too by “adopting a meal,” Self said.
Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken will be cooking — what else — fried chicken for Friday night’s dinner delivery.
Food donations, volunteers
You can donate to FoodChain on its web site, Foodchainlex.org, and there are other ways to help: Feeding Kentucky needs volunteers to help process the food for pantries.
Go to FeedingKy.org/coronavirus. If you click on the map it should take you to the volunteer intake form for the main food bank serving a county.
Families in Fayette County in need can call 859-259-2309 to sign up; outside Fayette, go to godspantry.org/help to find the nearest site. Eligibility is based on income and household size.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
