Carmel’s ‘Feed the Frontlines’ brings over 12K meals to healthcare workers

By SUE MAKI

For the Reporter

The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges to all of us. But amongst the challenges and heartbreaks, there were examples of how communities joined together to help one another. Feed the Frontlines Carmel was one of those examples, and I was privileged to help with it.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Feed the Frontlines programs were started across the country. The City of Carmel knew it would be a good program for our city as it provided an opportunity to help our locally-owned restaurants as well as support the frontline healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients in our two local hospitals, IU North and Ascension St. Vincent.

The City of Carmel partnered with the Rotary Club of Carmel to implement the program. Carmel Rotary and the Rotary Central Indiana District Foundation were the non-profit fiscal agents for the program; this was the perfect partnership as contributions made to the Foundation were tax deductible, and with the Carmel Rotary Club managing the ordering and invoicing process, the meals furnished by the restaurants were tax-exempt.

Agave Bar & Grill making a delivery to IU North Hospital. (Photo provided)

Volunteers from Carmel Rotary, the Rotary District Foundation, and I went to work setting up the financials so that everything would be processed legally and efficiently. Once local hospitals and a variety of locally-owned restaurants were on board, we promoted the program to our residents and Feed the Frontlines Carmel was off and running!

The response was overwhelming. After the City of Carmel and Clay Township kickstarted the program with funding, the community responded. We received over $175,000 to fund over 12,000 meals to date for frontline healthcare workers.

Donations came from individuals in the amount of $5 up to $10,000 from private family foundations. Even the Carmel Middle School eighth-grade girls basketball team sent in $605 … the remainder of their meal fund due to the season being cut short by the pandemic.

Our local restaurants were particularly grateful. The funds from Feed the Frontlines were a lifeline for them as they grappled with how to run their businesses while keeping themselves, their staff, and customers safe. One restaurant owner shared that were it not for the Feed the Frontlines program, they could not have made payroll on more than one occasion. In total, 26 locally-owned restaurants participated in Feed the Frontlines.

While Feed the Frontlines Carmel is on hiatus for now, it is my hope that the need isn’t there to start it up for a third time. Any remaining funds in the program will be donated to area food pantries, another potential lifeline to help members of our community.

Sue Maki served as the Feed the Frontlines coordinator for the City of Carmel. She is also a member of Carmel Rotary and is serving in her first term as Hamilton County Councilor At-Large.