With the response to the pandemic changing almost daily this spring, we are all feeling its effects. Our schools are closed yet learning is supposed to continue, businesses are struggling, we are restricted from seeing friends and family. We feel it at Groundwork Lawrence, too, and we’re working hard to help, turning to our strengths and calling upon our areas of expertise. Access to fresh, healthy food has long been a pillar of our work, and as more and more families and individuals in our community lose income or food because of this crisis, our work in this arena is more important than ever.
So what have we done? Partnering with MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative and the City of Lawrence, we are contracting with eight local downtown Lawrence restaurants, all of which are also facing economic hardship with the mandated take-out only business model, to launch an innovative relief response to COVID-19 that both provides much needed meals to our community while also directing critical dollars to local businesses and supporting local jobs.
These restaurants — Blue Lounge Restaurant, Café Azteca, Coco’s Café & Catering, El Taller Café & Bookstore, Grumpy G, Lu’s Café & Bakery, Tu Kasa, and Vaka Restaurant — are all part of the fabric of our community. In this creative partnership, we are purchasing 1,600 meals a week from the restaurants which are then delivered to the Lawrence YMCA, Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, and Bread and Roses. The Lawrence YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club distribute the meals through a “Grab n’ Go” model. Bread and Roses is delivering the meals to families and to churches.
Additionally, the New Balance Foundation has provided funding support to purchase needed food. Their generosity allowed for the purchase of, among other food, over 28,000 locally grown apples, which we are adding as a healthy snack to the meals provided by our restaurant partners.
The program was started as a short-term pilot to help local restaurants re-open, secure steady income and feed families affected by COVID-19, with the potential to expand to serve more meals to distribution partners beyond the original 3 week design. The program is off to a resounding successful start — there is a greater demand than we are currently meeting — however we have raised enough funding to extend the program for 10 weeks, ending in June.
We are actively seeking additional funding sources to continue supporting our healthy food programs. Any and all donations help. If you would like to support this work, you can donate right here and select COVID-19 Food Access Relief under the designation.
We are proud to be part of this solution to a difficult challenge, and we are lucky to have such committed partners here in Lawrence. This restaurant program, along with our other food work like our continually adapting farmers market model, helps ensure that everyone has access to fresh and healthy food during these times. In this area and others, we will continue to meet the challenges of today, working alongside you, our ever important partner, while staying prepared for the challenges of tomorrow.
Staff from Lu's Cafe & Bakery prepare food to be sent to our partners