Foundations of Kaleida Health Partner with Community to Provide Meals for Workforce

Released: 4/1/2020 4:11:27 PM

This week, The Foundations of Kaleida Health worked with partner restaurants and community partners to provide over 12,000 meals to the dedicated staff across Kaleida Health. Staff at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute (BGMC/GVI), DeGraff Memorial Hospital (DMH), Oishei Children’s Hospital (OCH), Kaleida Health Laboratories, Visiting Nursing Association of WNY (VNA), Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (MFSH) and the employee COVID-19 testing sites have received meals.

All meals are provided through a combination of support from The Foundations of Kaleida Health and the generosity of some of their partner restaurants in the community.

Some highlights so far include:

• Chick-fil-A Cheektowaga made 1,300 sandwiches to feed all the staff at OCH Tuesday and will make sandwiches to feed BGMC/GVI later this week
• Joe’s Deli delivered 800 meals for staff at MFSH and will deliver meals for OCH, BGMC and VNA later this week
• Osteria with the help of Ross Cellino provided Stock the Freezer meals to BGMC/GVI and MFSH
• Rachel’s Mediterranean made nearly 2,500 rice bowls for staff at BGMC/GVI Tuesday and will make meals for OCH, Kaleida Health Laboratories, VNA and DMH later this week

These are just some of the larger-scale meals that have and will be coming to Kaleida Health staff. More have and will continue to be delivered throughout the system in the coming weeks.

Carol Horton, vice president of the Kaleida Health Foundation, said, “It’s our mission each and every day to support the care that the incredible staff at Kaleida Health provide to our community. But especially during this difficult and unprecedented time, it’s important to us that we do all we can to say thank you for all that they’re doing.”

“This initiative is truly a win-win for all involved. We are able to thank our hardworking, compassionate and dedicated staff during this crisis who are facing it head on, and support the businesses that have done so much for our Foundations during a time they are struggling too,” added Andrew Bennett, vice president of The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo Foundation.

Please direct any meal donation requests to Amanda Dzielski at adzielski@kaleidahealth.org.