Feeding the frontline: How Los Angeles restaurants are supporting health workers

Local, New York City dive bar, Forgtmenot, had to pivot its business in the wake of COVID-19. Once a popular bar, now is a mini-mart, providing access to groceries for the community. With familial ties to a supermarket in Queens, the Lower East Side dive is able to access the supply chain and provide a less crowded, more community-driven alternative to the larger grocery stores.

As COVID-19 challenges businesses around the world, two Malaysian social enterprise companies have seen success in shifting their offerings. The Biji-biji Initiative, a fashion producer linked with the grassroots Social Textiles movement, quickly pivoted to making face shields and have been able to keep people employed while making the PPE for essential workers. PichaEats, a catering company, quickly shifted to making and delivering food for families and healthcare workers, delivering over 20,000 meals so far.

In Georgia’s Athens-Clarke County, schools and the community have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by setting up a food delivery and pickup program for students and families that experience food insecurity. Busses have been repurposed to deliver fully prepared meals, with the county also offering pick up and drive-thru options as well.

Across the United States, restaurants have been forced to close their dine-in services due to the coronavirus, but many have switched to online order and to-go options in order to stay open. Now, some of these restaurants are offering grocery orders as well, helping customers access ingredients that may be sold at local supermarkets.

California’s Glendale Community College normally operates a food pantry, called Food for Thought Pantry, for its students. Forced to close to slow the spread of COVID-19, it partnered with the Los Angeles Food Bank and the Glendale Community College charitable foundation to create a mobile food pantry for students and their families. Collecting food from farmers, wholesalers, grocers, growers, and distributors, they served a line of over 1,000 vehicles in April.

Aging seniors in rural Maine are high risk for COVID-19, so a musher and her team of dogs are set on delivering groceries to those who need it—by sled. Hannah Lucas, a resident of Caribou and an employee of the local convenience store, uses her skill set and team of Siberian huskies to deliver groceries from her place of work so people wouldn't have to leave their house. She aims for 4-6 deliveries a day and is booking days in advance.

When the lockdown first began, Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD) alleviated food insecurity by providing 18,000 meals and learning packets weekly to children as well as any Detroiter in need. Now students who are taking classes virtually can still receive meals in person. Anyone else in Detroit can also come by Monday to Thursday to pick up food to go. Food banks and pantries are also pivoting to meet the needs of the community during the pandemic.

Administrators at Mora Independent School District have discovered that the best way to help keep their students fed during the coronavirus pandemic is to offer as many flexible options as possible. The schools have mailed meals, as well as delivering them via school buses, and offered in-school pick-up. Before closing schools, only 100 families received meals, and that number has now increased to 400 families, and schools all over New Mexico want longer-term solutions. They've now incorporated libraries and community centers to expand food accessibility.

As the U.S attempts to reopen, restaurant owners from California to Florida are expanding their restaurants into nearby outdoor space, including sidewalks and parking lots. In doing so, they are able to offer patrons a safer dining environment, as there is more room to keep tables further apart and follow social distancing precautions, and it also helps restaurants earn more revenue than if they were limited to indoor space. Some city governments are streamlining the process, including Brookhaven, Georgia, which made it free to access short-term permits for outdoor dining.

A Californian "food rescue" nonprofit called White Pony Express is shifting their usual processes to alleviate food insecurity to accomodate the change that COVID-19 has brought to their distribution systems. The group is partnering with the Palabra de Dios Community Church to distribute boxes of fresh groceries to families who need it. The work is run by volunteers—members of the community who want to pitch in during the crisis to help their neighbors.