A GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING effort to provide frontline healthcare workers with nutritious meals has raised over €550,000 in just two weeks.
Through the Feed The Heroes initiative, more than 18,500 meals have been delivered nationwide to staff at the Covid-19 Testing Centres, HSE Contact Tracing, the National Ambulance Service and the Fire Brigade as well as hospital workers.
Feed The Heroes partners with restaurants and takeaways, caterers and commercial kitchens to prepare and deliver the meals and co-ordinates with the frontline teams to ensure they get to where they are needed.
More than 11,000 individual donations have been made over the two weeks.
The Feed the Heroes organisers said that the meals are also “a simple way of showing solidarity and gratitude to Ireland’s critical frontline workers who are working long shifts in very challenging circumstances as they combat Ireland’s biggest ever public health emergency”.
There is now a team of twenty volunteers and an advisory board co-coordinating the Feed The Heroes effort with the intention of sustaining the meal delivery through the Covid-19 emergency. Each meal costs approximately €7 to prepare and deliver.
If you want to contribute, you can do so here. Corporate donations can be made by contacting corporatedonations@feedtheheroes.com. Find more information is here.
Speaking today, Feed The Heroes fund founder, Cian O’Flaherty said that they had been “completely blown away by the response of the Irish people”.
“They have transformed what began as an ambition to raise €1,000 to buy a few meals into a national operation that to date has delivered more than 18,500 meals to critical frontline workers nationwide.
More than 11,300 Irish people have contributed to Feed The Heroes from a seven-year-old donating €5 of their pocket-money to a €20,000 donation from Republic of Ireland international and Everton football player, Seamus Coleman.
“Every single euro makes a difference and we take the responsibility entrusted to us by all our donors very seriously.
“The meals are greatly appreciated by those who receive them not just for the food itself but also for what it represents – a symbol of our solidarity with and gratitude to those combating Ireland’s biggest ever public health emergency.”
Other good news
Elsewhere, people have been taking heart by sharing the good deeds and the acts of kindness of others.
Among the acts being praised by members of the public is Gardaí checking in and helping senior citizens with their shopping, or by walking their dogs, as Garda Pat Tarrant did today with Sonnie, the golden retriever of an elderly resident who is cocooning.
In Llandudno in north Wales, the Guardian shared this video of a herd of goats took over its deserted streets as residents are in lockdown due to the pandemic
And another creative game for children: a teddy bear window hunt.
People in Stonybatter, Dublin are putting teddy bears in their window so that children can count all the teddies on their road as a little game to keep them entertained.
Síona Cahill kicked off the trend, and left a little note next to the teddy to encourage social distancing. If you live in an estate and have a suitably cute teddy lying around, you might want to start something similar in your area…
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