Washington DC woman starts charity to support restaurants, healthcare workers in coronavirus fight
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A Washington D.C. woman has started a charity called "Feed The Fight" to support local restaurants and frontline healthcare workers, two groups most impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
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"We are completely community-funded," Elena Tompkins told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Wednesday, "and we use the money to purchase meals from our local restaurants and deliver them to our local hospitals."
"It has been insane. I started...with one email and to date, we have purchased over 4,000 meals and are still growing."
"It serves a dual purpose of supporting our local restaurants and keeping them in business, while also showing love and support to our health care workers who really need it right now."
OUT-OF-WORK CHEF DONATES GOURMET MEALS TO HOSPITAL STAFF
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According to Tompkins, Feed the Fight has provided more than 4,000 meals since its launch "and we are still growing."
"It has been insane. I started two weeks ago with one email that I sent [to] a couple dozen people and we started with lunch for 30 on the first day," she said. "By the end of the week, we had done 700 meals ... and to date, we have purchased over 4,000 meals and we are still growing."
Tompkins said doctors and nurses have been "blown away" by the community's support, and compared the free meals to a "virtual hug."
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"They are walking into the break room and there are some seriously good meals waiting for them," she said. "They have been blown away and they just said that they can feel the virtual hug from all of us, so it has meant a lot to everybody."
As far as donations go, "no gift is too small or too big," she said.
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"We had some very generous donations. Today we had a wonderful donation from a 12-year-old boy. It was his birthday and he got a $100 check from his grandparents and he said he wanted to send it to Feed the Fight."
Tompkins is currently accepting donations via Venmo. All contributions should be addressed to @elena-tompkins.