Trying times mean people go the extra mile for their neighbors. In south Louisiana, it also means bringing comforting food to those in need—or those on the frontlines.
BR Answer the Call is one of many local initiatives that has been paying it forward. The nonprofit not only provides for hospitals but also local restaurants. It uses donations to purchase meals from restaurants hit hard by the dine-in shutdown—and in turn provides those meals for free to health care workers who’ve been working hard to treat patients and putting their own health at risk during the pandemic.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to raise money for our local restaurants while they are hurting from the quarantine and give back to our health care workers meals of love and appreciation for everything they are doing,’” co-founder Shannon Williams Hultberg says.
|
|
|
Roly Poly Sandwiches, City Pork, Serop’s Cafe, Mason’s Grill, Jay’s Bar-B-Q and Rotolo’s Pizzeria are some of the restaurants the organization has worked with so far.
Although it initially began as a GoFundMe effort, organizers quickly decided to turn it into a nonprofit so donors would know their money is going 100% to the cause, according to Hultberg.
The organization has raised $14,000 so far, delivering 1,400 meals and counting to Ochsner Medical Center, Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Our Lady of the Lake and Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary and Eastern Louisiana Mental Health Hospital in Jackson.
Rotolo’s marketing manager Matthew Walker says it is close to delivering more than 1,000 pizzas to hospitals. It has donated two batches of food to Our Lady of the Lake Baton Rouge, and it’s also donated to Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Our Lady of the Lake Ascension and Baton Rouge General.
|
|
|
Tara Aucoin of Roly Poly Sandwiches has worked with the nonprofit in the past, and the restaurant has also recently provided Oschner Medical Center with four variations of its sandwiches and a side of pasta salad through the Better Together BR Restaurant Coalition.
At Mason’s Grill, the goal has been to donate to at least one hospital each week. ”But most weeks we donate to two hospitals,” says Mason’s manager Kristin Alfandre.
And BR Answer the Call isn’t the only organization helping—Alfandre says that in addition to working with BR Answer the Call, the restaurant’s donations have been in coordination with #ScrubGrub, Shift Support, Most Blessed Sacrament’s Girl Scouts program, the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center downtown and Fellowship Church.