Let’s All Fuel the Fight

Our 25-person team is working hard behind the scenes to make sure Alignable does everything possible to help you stay connected with each other and your communities, so we can all get through the Coronavirus outbreak together.  We know recovery is on the horizon, and for our communities to recover, we will need as many small business owners up and running as possible.  

This week, we learned how to help both local restaurants and our local doctors, nurses and first responders.  It’s a true community moment and here is our story. (Hint: you can do this, too).  

We Need To Do More

We have a very tight team and one of the things we enjoy most about our culture is our team lunch on Friday when we order in from a local restaurant and chow down while catching up with each other.  

Now three weeks into working from home, the team decided they wanted to use our Friday lunch fund to support local restaurants. But rather than ordering lunch for ourselves, they wanted to use the money to buy lunch for hospital staff and emergency responders in the area.  

So Off I Went To Do A Little Research

Turns out a long-time friend of mine Christine Schuster is the CEO of Emerson Hospital.  I’ve been checking in on her every couple days because I know she and her team are under enormous stress. These folks are the Marines on the Coronavirus Battlefield. 

Chris connected me with Karl who’s fundraising role at the hospital now includes working with everyone who wants to lend their support to these incredible people.   Karl can’t do this alone so he’s enlisted the support of people outside the hospital and Mayra within. Mayra is the foodservice manager and she makes her living selling food to their team. But imagine this, she is foregoing income for herself by helping Karl coordinate collecting food donations coming in from others! Love her.  

Karl Says, "Please Call Ahead" 

This is a marathon and their team is going to need our support for the next 6 to 8 weeks.  They love the outpouring of support, but please call before you send something over.  Having the pizza delivery guy show up with 30 pizzas and walk into the ER is less than optimal.  

Coordinating support for when and where they need it most maximizes the impact of every dollar of food you send their way.  So please call ahead.

Photo cred: Dan Driscoll, Fuel the Fight Boston

Local Volunteers Are Helping Coordinate 

Here’s where Fuel the Fight enters into the equation.  Started by a group of college grads who grew up around Philly. They rallied a group of Georgetown and Penn alumni living in NYC to start their first fundraiser:  NYC Fuel The Fight in support of the hospitals and local restaurants in NYC. Soon after the idea started catching on and spreading across the country. 

Karl introduced me to Hilary who along with Rob and a team of friends had been working with Emerson Hospital to set up a Fuel the Fight - Concord GoFundMe page.  Here’s the part I love.  They are reaching out to all the local restaurants in the area and asking them if they want to generate some income making food that’s needed for the hospital. Brilliant.  

100% of the money donated goes to local restaurants and results in meals for the staff at the hospitals. This sealed the deal for me for our first lunch fund donation.  

What Can Your Business Do to Help?  Try this… 

If you’re an owner or exec at a company that used to order food for your team...  

1. Get a few of your team members to reach out to Fuel the Fight to learn how they can set up a GoFundMe page for your local hospital or first responders.  
2. Then use social and online media to get the word out to the greater community through your team.  
3. Next find local restaurants in your area who are willing to work with you to coordinate food preparation and delivery (it’s important we keep hospital workers as healthy as possible so please work with the hospital staff about how food needs to be prepared and delivered so they can eat it).  If you need help reaching local restaurants. Let us know, we have tens of thousands of them on Alignable and as a member, you can click here to find a bunch near you. 

What Does This Mean To The Restaurant Industry? 

Well, I reached out to Bob Luz the head of the MA Restaurant Association and here’s what he had to say: “Our local restaurants are being crushed by this outbreak.  They appreciate any and all support the community can provide and there is nothing they would enjoy more than working to deliver quality food to our first responders.  I hope every community across the country adopts a hospital and their local restaurants in this great way.”  

So What’s Next For Us?

Next on our list is St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton, MA.  We’re going to keep using our lunch money in this small way, and our platform in an even bigger way to see if we can help turn this into a national movement in support of our heroes Fighting the Fight and the Small Business Owners we love.  

What Are You Going To Do To Get into the Game?

#SmallBusinessStrong

Related content: For more ideas on how you can support local businesses through the crisis, check out our resource center.