Lara Overy was chatting with friends a few weeks ago when one mentioned that their spouse, who works at Riverside Doctors’ Hospital Williamsburg, was having trouble getting food delivered to the hospital.
That’s when Overy got the idea to help both health care workers and restaurants during this difficult time by launching a fundraiser to pay for health care workers’ meals.
“When they shared there was this need, I started thinking about it and talking to people in the community and decided not only did our health care workers need support with meals but our restaurants really needed our support,” said Overy, who is the commissioner of the revenue for Williamsburg.
Overy lined up several local restaurants, a different one for each day of the week, to prepare a meal for 55 front-line workers for the next 8 weeks. She said it was important to her that every member of the hospital gets fed. They do a daily delivery at 6 p.m. because the cafeteria is closed and they can catch workers coming off of the day shift and those coming on to the night shift.
Overy picks up the food every day, loads it up in her SUV and delivers it to the hospital.
Overy partnered with the Chick-fil-A on Monticello Ave, Sal’s by Victor, Fat Tuna, Rocco’s Smokehouse Grill, New York Deli, Mellow Mushroom, Cochon on 2nd and Qdoba to make it all happen. Duck Donuts has also helped out by preparing doughnuts for the health care workers.
“The reaction that I got from the restaurants was overwhelming. They were so excited to be asked to participate in this,” she said. “They really weren’t concerned about what they were going to get out of this. They were more concerned about what they were going to do to help our community.”
Vittorio Minichiello, owner of Sal’s by Victor, said the pandemic has impacted his restaurant, much like many other businesses in the country. Usually, he would have tourists to serve, but that’s no longer the case.
Minichiello said being part of Overy’s project isn’t about business, though.
“I think the most important thing right now is taking care of the people that need it,” he said. “Right now the business isn’t important.”
Minichiello also has partnerships with Fat Tuna and Rocco’s Smokehouse Grill. He helped get those restaurants involved in Overy’s project.
“We tried to make the program bigger,” he said. “We work with so many other people right now. We are there for the people in need, that’s not a problem. For us, money is not important right now. What’s important is people’s safety.”
Overy’s fundraiser has already raised more than $11,000 of its $13,000 goal. She said if they raise more, she will equally share it with the restaurants that are participating.
“In the end, really this is just about making sure our health care heroes feel supported and that our restaurants are able to contribute and receive a little recognition for what they’re doing during this difficult time,” she said.
Overy said she’s dealt with a bit of criticism during this process, but she just tries to stay positive.
“There’s always going to be people out there that think you should be doing both hospitals or you shouldn’t have picked those restaurants but I just try really hard to stay positive. I know that my heart is in the right place. It’s not about me, it’s about making sure our health care heroes are feeling supported by the community,” she said.
Overy has also launched a campaign to support Sentara, whose needs are a bit different since they’re a larger hospital. She partnered with Girl Scouts to set up a website where people can donate a box of cookies and they will go to a health care worker at Sentara Williamsburg. She will also be assembling care packages for the staff. People can donate cookies here: tinyurl.com/t2jlxxn.
If you are interested in donating food to Riverside, contact Allison Fonner at allison.fonner@rivhs.com. They are only able to accept food from vendors with a food permit, so no homemade food items are permitted. Sentara is also unable to accept any homemade food items, food must be individually wrapped and from a licensed vendor or restaurant. Contact information for the hospitals can be found here: https://sentaraupdates.com/donations/ and https://www.riversideonline.com/covid_19/help.cfm.
Overy’s fundraiser can be found here: gofundme.com/f/meals-for-riverside-er-staff.
Cleo-Symone Scott, 757-446-2270, cleosymone.scott@pilotonline.com
