Coronavirus: ATX Hospital Meals Expands Mission
AUSTIN, TX — ATXHospitalMeals —an Austin-based grassroots organization mobilizing to feed health care workers through donations going directly to support local restaurants — launched a partnership on Thursday with the Austin Chinese-American Network.
The Austin Chinese-American Network is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a core mission to “serve our community and foster our heritage.” The collaboration will promotes expansion of the organizations' respective charitable programs while enabling ATXHospitalMeals to accept tax-exempt donations and company matches. Austin construction manager company Flintco is the first corporate giving partner matching dollar-for-dollar donations given through May 1 up to $15,000, officials noted in a news release.
ATXHospitalMeals was created by Austin entrepreneur Matt Silk and his wife Tonya in recognition of the devastating impact the new coronavirus is having on the local restaurant industry. As healthcare workers staff demanding shifts fighting a war against this pandemic for all citizens, getting them a fresh quality meal seemed like a simple solution "to put a smile on their face and re-charge them for battle," officials explained. Allowing anyone to contribute yields buying power to scale in making a measurable impact on the local restaurant industry, officials noted.
“We were inspired by FrontlineFoods.org who open-sourced their entire program for others to begin delivering meals to hospital staff from restaurants in their hometowns,” said Silk. “We were able to start our program and begin distributing food in a matter of days. What we thought would be just a few meals has turned into a mission with an incredibly talented group of volunteers and partners. I can’t believe the progress this scrappy group of Austinites has made already.”
ATXHospitalMeals has sparked a strong response from the Austin community since March 25, raising more than $30,000 to re-fuel hospital workers with more than 1,200 meals at two St. David’s HealthCare facilities and six Austin-Travis County EMS first responder command stations, while simultaneously helping drive revenue through local restaurants. Fifteen different restaurant partners have already participated with several others in the works, officials added. Additionally, Capital City Limousine of Austin has agreed to donate driver services, vehicles and delivery dispatching functions to yield a world-class logistics partner into the program, officials described.
Similarly, officials said the Austin Chinese-American Network — with enthusiastic support from its members — began supporting coronavirus relief efforts on March 21 targeting underprivileged and at-risk groups in the Austin metro area, including people experiencing homelessness, youths in transition, kids in foster homes and students losing access to school meals. In the past three weeks, the network delivered more than 2,100 home-cooked, restaurant donated and partner-entity donated meals to these vulnerable populations most severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Austin Chinese-American Network also distributed more than 200 restaurant meals to hospitals, first responders and pharmacists in the same period.
“Matt and Tonya have been valued members of the ACAN community for years,” Hugh Li, vice president of Austin Chinese-American Network, observed. “When they approached us with this opportunity to augment both of our respective community efforts, and to streamline the overlaps that already exist in serving the healthcare professionals, we simply said, ‘When can we launch?’ ATXHospitalMeals has already built a stellar organization and, with the strength of the entire ACAN community behind this, we are confident this partnership will yield remarkable results. Adding tax-exempt donations and company matches should open access to new funds and take this program to the next level.”
Charitable contributions large and small are accepted through ATXHospitalMeals’ donation form with 100 percent of donation benefiting local restaurants supplying food for health care workers. In issuing their news release, officials gave thanks to those who have donated thus far with a special shout-out to Austin-based philanthropists Brian and Adria Sheth for their generous contribution.
For more information about ATXHospitalMeals, visit www.ATXHospitalMeals.com. There, one can pledge support to donate, volunteer and become a restaurant partner.
About ATXHospitalMeals
ATXHospitalMeals is an organization dedicated to supporting Austin’s hospital workers who are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic and restaurants that are experiencing devastating impacts during this emergency.
For more information, visit www.atxhospitalmeals.com and follow ATXHospitalMeals on Facebook and Instagram.
About Austin Chinese-American Network
ACAN is a membership organization dedicated to serving the community by fostering and sharing its culture heritage, member enrichment and education. A 501(c)(3) organization since 2017, ACAN has made a lasting impact to the communities in the Austin metro area through volunteering, donation and community engagement.
For more information, visit https://www.austinchineseamericannetwork.org/ and follow ACAN on Facebook and Twitter.
About Flintco
Flintco was founded in 1908 and maintains eight full-service offices. The company is registered or licensed in 35 states, and offers a full range of construction services, including: preconstruction services, construction management, design-build, general contracting, and project and program management.
Its self-perform capabilities include concrete, steel erection, excavation, underground infrastructure, and piping. Flintco is debt-free, maintaining a healthy balance sheet with exceptional bonding capacity.
"Our behavioral based approach to Safety called Flintco 4 LIFE (Live Incident Free Everyday) has delivered extraordinary results benefiting our clients and industry trade partners," officials wrote in a news release. Flintco has successfully reintroduced the practice of Lean to the construction industry with the adoption of Lean2.0®, a uniquely Flintco approach to driving efficiency and value for our clients, designers and trade partners.
This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch
