A network of churches and businesses in Central Arkansas has stepped up to fund meal delivery to groups of medical staffs during the covid-19 pandemic as a show of appreciation for those risking their health and safety to help others.
The social distancing required to limit the spread of the coronavirus has ended the possibility of all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts, fish fries and other communal food-centric events that faith groups and community organizations would otherwise host.
Instead, nearly three dozen churches -- and recently several businesses -- in Conway, Little Rock and North Little Rock have pooled resources to order those meals from restaurants. Many restaurants are also stepping up and contributing meals to hospital staffs and other front-line workers, either on their own or using donations from customers.
The church-funded effort, dubbed Operation Belly Hugs, has created a sustained flow of revenue and support to dining establishments as they deliver meals to Central Arkansas Baptist Health locations; Conway Regional Medical Center in Conway; and CHI St. Vincent Medical Center, Arkansas Children's hospital and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
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Scott McGehee, one of the partners running Yellow Rocket Concepts -- the group behind two Big Orange restaurants in Little Rock and one in Rogers, Heights Taco & Tamale Co., Local Lime in Little Rock and Rogers, Lost Forty, and ZaZa Fine Salad + Wood-Oven Pizza Co. -- credits Excalibur food truck owner Kyle Pounders with coming up with the Operation Belly Hugs tag. Pounders is spearheading the current collaboration between the World Central Kitchen and the Clinton Foundation to feed thousands of Arkansas schoolchildren.
The effort has been warmly met by hospital employees, who are working under the strain of limited resources and manpower. Health care facilities are dealing with an unprecedented need for personal protective equipment, and close to 250 of the workers have been waylaid by the virus.
They are a fraction of the more than 880,000 cases of covid-19 that the United States has seen since the outbreak began in December.
"I can barely think about what I'm going to feed my child when I'm running around, and I know these doctors and nurses are not thinking about, 'Oh, what am I going to have for lunch, while I'm trying to not get covid-19?" said Rachel Stafford, a member of Summit Church in Little Rock who is the main coordinator for the mainly church-funded meal deliveries for that city and North Little Rock.
That area's effort began in late March with a handful churches in Little Rock gathering donations from their members for meals, Stafford said, and it has grown to a network of 20 churches and three businesses in the Little Rock-North Little Rock area. As churches joined in, the support has grown enough to allow meal deliveries three times a week -- lunch or dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays -- for most of the area hospitals.
"There are other options to be fed, but this is just like a hug for them, to keep on going, be encouraged and keep doing the good work that they're doing," Stafford said.
Summit Church in Conway first pitched the idea last month to a group of pastors in that city, who partnered right away to take turns feeding medical workers at Conway Regional Medical Center and Baptist Health in Conway. The effort quickly crossed borders to its Little Rock location.
"All the pastors, we got together and said, 'this is a way we can serve our city,'" said Jonathan Burgin, a lead pastor of Summit Church in Conway.
While Burgin is the main contact for at least 15 churches helping out in Conway, he emphasized that the churches want no recognition, nor for their pastors to be named.
"It's not about us. It's not about anybody's church," Burgin said. "It's about the hospitals and health care [staff] serving us."
Burgin said that in Conway meals delivered to Baptist Health or Conway Regional on a given Monday, Wednesday or Friday cost around $300, and the average cost to serve both hospitals is between $600 and $700.
In Little Rock, churches and businesses commit to donating $400 for one round of meals dropped off at any one hospital. So far, groups have committed a cumulative $25,000 to the project, Stafford said.
Among the restaurants that have donated, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe has supplied individually boxed chicken feasts -- grilled chicken, rice and a Greek salad -- and hummus appetizers each week for the UAMS emergency room night shift, roughly 40 people, said Stephanie Keet, vice president of marketing for JTJ Restaurants, which operates four Central Arkansas Taziki's restaurants plus two in Northwest Arkansas.
"The level of support we have seen in the community for those on the front line has been amazing," she said. "The night shift at hospitals is often overlooked when restaurants donate food, so we saw an opportunity to help."
It's costing Taziki's about $450 each week, Keet added.
Trio's has been donating meals to UAMS and to other first-responders, including six fire stations, toward a goal of serving every fire station in the city, said owner-chef Capi Peck. It's also donated to the staff at Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where as of Thursday five covid-19 deaths had been reported among the residents, according to the state Health Department. Next week she plans to feed Rock Region Metro bus drivers.
"Also, I'd like to find a way to get meals to other restaurant workers, to pharmacies and to the folks who work in grocery stores," Peck said.
She's also been trading meals with other restaurateurs, including McGehee.
"We're all in this together, and we all know how to cook," she said. "My workers get tired of Trio's food.The folks at Big Orange probably get tired of Big Orange food."
Underwriting for the meals comes from "generous customers," she explained.
"People are just being very generous," she said, noting that patrons have made donations, sometimes of $200 or even $500, via credit cards, and she's using the money not only to support her business but to give back to folks on the front lines.
Eliecer Palacios, who owns and operates eight Central Arkansas McDonald's -- four in Little Rock, three in Benton and one in Bryant -- said they've been dropping off 35-60 individually wrapped chicken sandwiches and burgers and fries once each week since April 1 to the staffs at UAMS, Baptist Hospital and CHI St. Vincent. Michael Retzer Jr. of Little Rock, who owns or co-owns about 100 Arkansas McDonald's franchises, also does a hospital drop-off once a week.
"I haven't really put money to it," Palacios said, but he estimated the cost of each drop-off at $50-$75, which his restaurants cover.
The drop-offs will likely be suspended for the duration of the restaurant chain's current offer of free Thank You Meals through May 5 to health care workers, police officers, firefighters and paramedics, who need only show their work badges to get free breakfast or lunch sandwiches for drive-thru or carry out. After that, Palacios said, they'll continue to offer front-line workers 25% discounts.
UAMS reports that it has received meal and dessert donations from Big Orange and Yellow Rocket restaurants Heights Taco & Tamale, Local Lime and Lost Forty, as well as from The Pantry, Chick-fil-A, Arthur's Prime Steakhouse, El Porton, Moe's Southwest Grill, Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, Mellow Mushroom, Loblolly Creamery, the Butcher Shop, Coldstone Creamery, Newks Eatery, Eat My Catfish, The Fold, Community Bakery, Saladworks, Whole Hog Cafe, Papa John's, Heights Nutrition and Ciao Baci.
McGehee said his restaurants have donated to all of the area hospitals, including UAMS, Arkansas Heart, Children's, Baptist and the Veterans Administration.
There is now a need to "coordinate and coalesce" to provide meals where they're needed most, he said. To that end, he has started working with Pounders and the World Central Kitchen, which he expects to soon direct funding to restaurants struggling to stay afloat so those restaurants can provide the food donations. He estimates that the nonprofit will provide up to $8.50 per box lunch in desperately needed revenue for restaurants that are teetering on the edge because of the hit they've taken in the wake of pandemic shutdown.
McGehee said if he's supplying a health care unit with 21 doctors and nurses, he can prepare that many meals to also serve members of the National Guard, policemen and support staff members "who are just as frightened and just as stressed."
He's also looking to supply meals to others on the front lines -- police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and workers at other restaurants.
"My goal is to feed everyone who needs food," he said. "I have one skill in life, and that's to feed people and put a smile on their faces."
Shannon Giger, the administrator for the UAMS emergency department, said Operation Belly Hugs and other donations are supporting hospital staffs at a crucial time, even as the hospital staffs provide support among themselves.
Donations have been collected for one staffer whose daughter was laid off and needed help supporting her children. Texts around the emergency department help find toilet paper, paper towels and other items for a staffer who has run out of them at home.
"It's a stressful time for everybody," Giger said. Medical workers are worried about exposure to the virus. "We're just doing everything we can to support their wellness."
Cara Wade, a spokeswoman for Baptist Health, said numerous individuals, churches and restaurants have delivered food at various times across Baptist Health's system.
"The outpouring of generous offers from our local communities to donate food for our employees has truly been amazing," Wade said in an email. "From smoothies to pizza, the donations mean a great deal to our caregivers who are working tirelessly to provide care during this pandemic; it reminds them that they are appreciated and lifts their spirits."
"It has been an outpouring," Pat Ratliff, an assistant chef at St. Vincent, said of the support St. Vincent has received.
Ratliff said the number of staff members on hand at the hospital's emergency room varies from as few as 15 to as many as 60, not counting people working behind the scenes, but emphasized the benefits to area businesses and the individuals behind the larger donations, as well.
"It's not only the staff here and the people here, it's the businesses -- the community businesses -- that have the ability to still continue to do their job, to make these offerings," Ratliff said. "The churches are a vehicle; they connect with the restaurants, but it's the donations to the church ... [that] in turn is giving it to the businesses, [and] the businesses in turn are giving it to St. Vincent's. So it's everybody that gave a dollar.
"It's an amazing time. As scary as it is, it's still amazing."
SundayMonday on 04/26/2020