Two shifts of workers and support staff at Mayo Clinic of Florida ate well Friday after the Jacksonville Automobile Dealers Association contracted a local meal preparation company, Lean Impact Nutrition, to prepare and deliver meals to local frontline heroes dealing with the COVID19 pandemic.
JADA, made up of 62 dealerships, has a rich history of giving back over 20 years to the amount of $2,200,000. JADA traditionally focuses on children and family charities, but when the COVID19 pandemic hit, the group’s board members knew it was time to show some appreciation to those on the front line.
Friday’s feeding at Mayo is just the first installment in this effort. The meal deliveries will continue with 500 meals delivered to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Baptist Medical Center South early next week. JADA is making plans to deliver a total of 2,500 meals to hospitals, local police substations and first responders.
“There are thousands of local frontline heroes in our community, dealing with COVID19 patients daily and putting themselves at risk for our community,” JADA President Phil Porter said. “Providing meals for these local heroes is our way of saying Thank You for their sacrifice and commitment.”
JADA is collaborating with Lean Impact Nutrition owner Zach Elkins, who has already made it a personal mission to donate meals to Clay County hospitals over the past few weeks.
“We wanted to give meals to people on the front line, our critical emergency room staff and maybe make their shift a little better by providing them a healthy meal,” Elkins said.
While not technically part of Channel 4′s Food4Frontline efforts that collecting funds to show our appreciation for health care workers, JADA has expressed interest in partnering on future deliveries.