Mount Pleasant Magazine Documenting Covid-19

89 www.CoronavirusMag.com | www.ReadMPM.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature limit in order to operate in a safe manner. Feed the Need Charleston has taken over fundraising efforts, immediately infusing the project with their own $10,000 donation and quickly allowing Pay It Forward to go from a grassroots operation to distributing 1,800 bags of groceries in a period of only three weeks. As of April 14, they had raised more than $40,000—enough to keep the operation running for three more weeks. “We are all thrilled with the response of the community to date. What we need to do though is keep the momentum going and have as many people as possible donate today and in the weeks to come,” said Mickey Bakst, President of Charleston Chefs Feed the Need. “This effort will continue as long as the F&B community needs us and for it to do so we need the community’s support.” The hospitality industry has suffered a massive blow, but there are many others who also are struggling to keep food on their tables. From the moment that dine-in services were suspended, Workshop stall-mates Jacob Schor of Julius Delicatessen and Nikko Cagalanan of Mansueta’s Filipino Food knew that they had to find a way to get food into the bellies of those in need. “Our first thought was, what are we going to do with all of this food?” said Schor. The answer was simple; they cooked up everything that they had and delivered meals to homeless shelter One80 Place, the Ronald McDonald House, and soup kitchen Neighborhood House. After supporting the initiative for a few days on their own, the two called on the community via a GoFundMe page to sustain their efforts. By the fourth day, they had reached their $2,000 goal and, as the generosity of our community continues to grow, the deliveries continue to expand to other non-profits and hospitals. As Workshop residents, Schor and Cagalanan are used to running smaller-scale operations to feed individual patrons, but producing up to 200 meals a day, six days a week has turned them into a busy catering company. That busyness has kept them sane as the shutdown wanes on and has helped them to forge connections with other area chefs looking for a way to help. Chefs Brian and Naoko Howard of Stars Rooftop Bar & Grille and Millers All Day have shown up to lend a hand in the kitchen, while restaurants like The Royal Tern pitch in by dropping off fruits and vegetables that they’re not able to use. “Food is the best connection,” said Schor. “Running this business, I had lost track of the other side of hospitality, the giving side.” He hopes to see the generosity and community that this virus has forced us to build to continue long after the dust settles. Back at Babas, upholding their standard of hospitality now goes beyond how they serve their patrons. As large restaurant groups made the difficult decision to lay off thousands of employees, Babas immediately stepped up and offered a small dose of comfort through free cups of coffee. Crouse quickly realized that there was a need for more than a simple cup of joe and created an opportunity for supporters to purchase a hot beverage, stiff drink or full meal for laid off workers, and he’s been blown away by the response. On the day of our phone call, the kitchen was busily preparing an extra 10 dinners purchased by a patron who simply stopped in to grab his daily sandwich—it was enough to feed an entire kitchen crew. The huge gesture serves as a reminder that every cappuccino, every meal, every Venmo tip is making a difference, not only in a financial sense, but by bringing a sense of humanity to a situation where we all feel out of touch. COVID-19 may be forcing us to change the way that we relate to each other on a daily basis, but by coming together as a community to lift up people who have sang with us on our birthdays, congratulated us on our anniversaries and dedicated their lives to putting smiles on our faces, we can continue to infuse Charleston with hospitality from behind our masks. Photo by Juli Kaplan.