Great success! Thanks to our many supporters, we sold 200 meals and were able to provide 100 free meals to the Brookline Food Pantry. This covered ALL the requests they had for cooked meals! In addition, we are sending them a check for $1000 to be used to provide food from their usual sources over the coming days.
Many thanks
- To all the wonderful volunteers who worked through the day to bag up the goodies and pass them to the customers' cars!
- And to Lisa Wisel and her staff at VineRipe Grill who provided the space and facilities for us to bag and deliver the food, and who provided additional food for Brookline Housing and the Senior Center
- And to the Lions, the Elks, and the American Legion who purchased some of the meals for the Senior Center
- And to all the volunteers who delivered meals to people sheltering at home who were unable to pick up
- And to VineRipe Grill, Drive-By Pies, and Rifrullo's Cafe for the delicious food!
- And to Channel 5 for featuring us on the Evening News on Wednesday night
We hope ALL of you had a great Thanksgiving Day, and will keep on keeping on...stay healthy and safe, wear a mask, wash your hands, we love you.
To support and encourage many families who will be gathering virtually to celebrate the holiday this year as well as provide free meals for clients of the Brookline Food Pantry who otherwise might not have Thanksgiving dinner, the Rotary Club of Brookline will orchestrate a drive-by pick up of pre-purchased, traditional Thanksgiving dinners this Wednesday, 11/25/20. From 11:00Am to 5:00PM a parade of cars is expected for curbside pick-up of about 200 pre-purchased, traditional Thanksgiving dinners at Vine Ripe Grill, 1281 West Roxbury Pkwy, Chestnut Hill.
Brookline Rotary, which has helped the community address local issues since 1938, has been concerned, along with other local groups, with the impact of the COVID virus on our local residents and businesses. Recognizing that food insufficiency was even greater this year than last and that many local residents would not be safe traveling to family/friends this year, the club devised a plan to help local families enjoy the food of the season, which is such an important piece of the holiday.
The club anticipated that many residents not traveling this year would be unwilling/unable to cook a traditional meal. Though the Food Pantry was planning on their traditional bag of Thanksgiving groceries, many clients would not be able to take advantage of these groceries.
Brookline residents were invited to purchase a pre-cooked, traditional dinner and/or purchase a dinner for a client of the Food Pantry. It was important that the program was contactless. Close to 200 meals were sold via the internet/phone and will have curbside pick-up on the 25th. The donated meals were coordinated with the Brookline Food Pantry and two other local organizations, the Elks and the American Legion Post, that are purchasing meals for the Brookline Senior Center. All labor and delivery is being done by volunteers from Rotary and the Food Pantry.
An additional benefit of the program was to support three local businesses: Vine Ripe Grill, Rifrullo Cafe, and Drive-By Pies who, like all local businesses, have been struggling. Of note is that Vine Ripe, who traditionally does a Thanksgiving dinner for Brookline Housing residents each year at their location, will be providing meals for that program as well on Wednesday with the help of the Brookline Police Department to deliver these meals.