Share My Meals broadened its activities from Princeton to Lawrenceville, and added a fifth restaurant to its network of food suppliers.
On March 1, Fedora Cafe began preparing healthy meals for the food insecure locally.
“Every day we see more people needing food. We can’t sit there and do nothing,” Ishara Wijesuriya, owner of Fedora Cafe, said in a statement provided by Share My Meals. “We have decided to work with Share My Meals to help them extend their operations to our community.”
Fedora Cafe will prepare 450 meals per week to be delivered on Mondays Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“We could not be more thankful for the partnership with Fedora Cafe. During our first year of operation we have provided over 39,000 meals to a growing community of people who are food insecure,” Isabelle Lambotte, Share My Meals president, said in the statement. “The need in Lawrenceville is mirroring what we see in Princeton. Hunger existed in the community before COVID and has been exacerbated during the pandemic.”
At the end of 2020, members of the Lawrenceville community reached out to Share My Meals as a solution to address the needs of several families who are food insecure. The organization began to address with the support of Princeton restaurants, but the extent of the need resulted in having to find a partner in Lawrenceville.
Share My Meals is now actively reaching out to local volunteers wanting to join the nonprofit in the Lawrenceville areas to fight hunger and reduce food waste. People interested in making a positive impact on their local community should head to sharemymeals.org.
When Share My Meals was founded in January 2020 the mission was to provide a bridge between individuals and families needing food and food suppliers (corporations, universities, and schools) with excess to share, fighting food insecurity while curbing the environmental impact of food waste, according to the statement.
With the lockdown under COVID-19, Share My Meals had to adapt and expand its operations overnight and launched its COVID-19 program. While the original meal suppliers temporarily closed their doors, four Princeton restaurants generously agreed to prepare meals at the cost of goods. This win-win solution allowed the restaurants to keep some staff members employed while also supporting the Princeton community, according to the statement.
Thanks to this collaboration and the support of generous donors and volunteers, Share My Meals has distributed more than 50,000 meals since being established in January 2020, according to the statement.
In addition to the COVID-19 program, Share My Meals continued the Waste Watcher efforts, searching out opportunities to safely distribute excess food to our families and local community centers. This included bagels, organic meat, and fresh produce from local businesses and farms, according to the statement.
For more information visit www.sharemymeals.org.
