Hospitality Helps: Village Den Delivers 5000 Meals (and Counting) for Healthcare Workers

The global response to this pandemic has been mixed, but, surprisingly, there’s one industry that is continually finding ways to stay strong and contribute: hospitality. Among all businesses, hospitality was one of the hardest hit for obvious reasons, and a few weeks ago there was a looming dread over those within it. There’s still uncertainty, but many have done what they know best—what drew them to the industry in the first place—which is to provide support, comfort, and openness for others. We’ve seen amazing results, from unique delivery services, to free food for hospitality workers, to hotels transforming into makeshift hospitals. Here we spotlight one of the initiatives we’re happy to see in our community:

People have been so overwhelmed by the sudden lifestyle change of quarantine that eating healthy has fallen by the wayside. We can’t imagine what it’s like for healthcare workers, who have been so burdened by the crisis that their dietary needs must be impossible to adequately maintain. Incidentally, it seems that the Village Den— Eric Marx, Lisle Richards, and Antoni Porowski’s West Village restaurant—was designed precisely for that purpose: making clean eating easier by offering tasty, healthful options in a central location. That location also happens to be a block away from Lenox Health Greenwich Village hospital, and maybe it was that proximity to healthcare workers that spurned their meaningful response when the virus forced restaurants to close down.

Since the start of the crisis, Village Den has been raising money to create and deliver free meals to frontline healthcare workers. This initiative just hit 5,000 meals—and counting—each of which has given workers a semblance of normalcy with fulfilling and nourishing food. The meals are going out to various hospitals throughout New York, and in doing so is inadvertently satisfying their goal of being a community-driven restaurant. The initiative is ongoing, and the Village Den is still taking donations, volunteers, or even recommendations for hospitals they can deliver to, and keep the spirits alive of the workers who need it most.

Visit the Village Den online to learn more about the initiative and make a meal donation.