‘Health care heroes’: Lexington restaurants feed those on front lines of COVID crisis
Lexington restaurants are coping with the coronavirus shutdown but many are reaching out to give to others, too.
Some are sending food to hospitals and first responders; others are feeding those in need, including fellow hospitality workers who have been laid off.
▪ Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken off of Vine Street downtown started with a donation of about 400 pieces of fried chicken to FoodChain. Now owner Gus Oyler is moving to hospitals.
“We’ve fed close to 500 so far, in the past two weeks,” Oyler said. He’s donated to Baptist Health, to UK Hospital, to Samaritan and is feeding workers at St. Joseph on Friday and Saturday.
“At UK I will get on a schedule to feed every department and shift over the next few weeks,” Oyler said. “Our goal is to feed 1,000 but we will probably surpass that. We’re trying to cover everybody, even the cleaning staff.”
Laura Wright, spokeswoman for UK HealthCare’s Office of Philanthropy said they have become a sort of “air traffic control” for the donations.
“We’ve fielded offers of donations for PPE, food, masks, hotel rooms, and more. Until now, our job has been to accept monetary gifts – and we’re still doing that but we’ve now pivoted to a ‘new normal’ in this crisis as citizens from all corners of Kentucky have offered their support for our front line workers.,” Wright said.
“We’ve had dozens of offers of food, gift cards, lodging and other supplies from restaurants, hotels and businesses throughout Central Kentucky. We’re profoundly grateful for this outpouring of community support and it’s all hands on deck as we try to coordinate acceptance and delivery of these gifts safely and equitably.”
The contact for community donations is Tricia Potts, Tricia.Potts@uky.edu
▪ Oscar Diggs on North Limestone, sent dinner for the UK Hospital ICU staff one evening in early April and firefighters in Paris, too.
▪ Great Bagel on Boston Road, which is hosting feeding programs for laid-off hospitality workers through the LEE Initiative, takes any food that is not claimed at the end of the evening to UK, where it is given to residents also in financially compromised situations, according to Lara Swan, owner of Great Bagel.
▪ Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream is selling Virginia S’Moore ice cream to benefit the LEE Initiative restaurant workers relief program, which has served more than 2,600 meals. The ice cream is SuperFudge, swirled with homemade marshmallow fluff and dusted with graham crumbs. Order this small batch flavor online at cbonlinesstore.square.site/ for pick up April 14-19. Each pint is $10, with $2 going to the relief fund. A previous flavor, CAndy Beshear, raised $4,000 to feed Fayette County school kids during spring break.
▪ FoodChain’s feeding program has expanded and rebranded. Now called Nourish Lexington, the initiative is now hiring unemployed hospitality workers to fix meals for hospitality industry families, other families in need, seniors in affordable housing apartment complexes and children and their families through school family resource coordinators. The initiative has support from the E.E. Murry Family Foundation, the Bluegrass Community Foundation, VisitLex and Keeneland, which also donated 1,500 pounds of food.
Whitaker Bank Ballpark also has stepped up to offer a distribution point for meals, beginning 5:30 p.m. April 8. Other donors include the Lavin Family Foundation and the Jenna and Matthew Mitchell Family Foundation. To donate to the feeding program, go to nourishlexington.org or bgcf.givingfuel.com/nourishfund. To apply to work a shift, receive a meal or learn more about donating kitchen space or products, go to nourishlexington.org.
▪ Selma’s Catering on Henry Clay Boulevard has offered to feed people in need.
“We knew people were hurting and scared and needed help,” Selma Owens said in a news release. “As I continued to hear about the layoffs, I knew we do could something to make a difference. Our Kentucky Proud homemade food is healthy and delicious and comforting. We will provide a hot meal to workers who have been laid off from their jobs! A good friend made a generous donation to get this process started and then another called to help.” Through the kindness and generosity of others, we organized efforts to make this happen. I knew we would start with the food service industry.”
The first donation in late March provided hot meals to the 30 employees laid off from a local coffee shop. If you have employees who have been laid off and could benefit from a hot meal, please e-mail Selma@SelmasCatering.com and someone will be back in touch. This program is fueled by the kindness and generosity of others. To donate and help keep this program going, call 859-971-2763.
▪ The “JUST Feed Lexington” (Jubilee Unites Services To Feed Lexington) meal program is another effort to help keep some food service workers employed and help ease the meal burden for vulnerable families. The Local Taco helped launch it on March 31; Selma’s Catering and Events has joined as well, making 400 meals (200 lunch and 200 dinner) a day, five days a week, for at least the next four weeks. These will be delivered by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department to shelters in the Lexington area that house those who are homeless, women fleeing domestic violence, human trafficking victims, and those in recovery programs. Partners for this initiative are: Jubilee Jobs of Lexington, Selma’s Catering and Events, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department, and many financial donors including significant contributions from the Ditto family, The Local Taco, Cathy Jacobs, and the Rouse and Kessinger Family Foundations.
In the first five days of JUST Feed, 1,898 meals were sent to nine sheltering facilities. Over the next few weeks, over 8,000 meals will go to these groups. Financial partners have contributed just over $40,000; the program is hoping to raise another $40,000. To contribute, go to jubileejobsoflexington.org/ or call 859-977-0128.
▪ CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations president Leslie Smart said this week in a statement that about 100 local businesses and organizations have generously donate everything from doughnuts to Girl Scout cookies.
“We have been blessed and humbled by the kindness shown by the communities we serve. The donations of food, snacks and other treats have been an uplifting reminder to our health care heroes that our communities appreciate them even more during this uncertain time.”
▪ Bourbon ‘n’ Toulouse on Euclid, working with local churches, has taken food to hospitals. They also have delivered food to the Kroger on Euclid and to the Jif peanut butter plant to feed employees as well.
▪ The Cellar Bar & Grille on Lansdowne is offering a 20 percent discount for orders placed for doctors and nurses and the restaurant will deliver the food to you.
▪ City Barbecue has a deal that will raise money to feed workers at Baptist Health Lexington: For every $5 raised, City Barbeque will provide a slow-smoked sandwich and two homemade sides (valued at $12) to a health care worker.
You can add a meal for a doctor, nurse or hospital worker when you place your own order or just place an order for a medical worker at squareup.com/store/city-barbeque-donations. Learn more about how to support the staff at Baptist Health Lexington during this critical time at citybbq.com/blog/help-us-feed-our-health-care-heroes/ and order online at order.citybbq.com.
▪ Raising Canes in Lexington has contributed to several efforts with free meal gift cards. The chicken restaurant is providing 2,000 free meals to Baptist Health care workers in Lexington and is giving free kids’ meals for the kids in day care at Baptist Health.
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The restaurant also is giving 2,200 free kids meals card to Fayette County schools for their backpack program. And Raising Canes food provider GFS is donating chicken to Nourish Lexington, on the chain’s behalf.
Starting Saturday, the restaurant is turning its lemonade green “to show our compassion for COVID-19 with the community.
▪ Bradford BBQ in Lancaster fed local firefighters and emergency personnel. The restaurant also reached out to Walmart, which donated $8,000 for firefighters in Kentucky, according to owners Jennifer Cooper and Matt Bradford.
▪ Last week, Bluegrass Hospitality Group’s Lexington restaurants began preparing lunches for first responders including police and firefighters and medical professionals that will be delivered by the Drake’s food truck.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
