A local group has organized to help feed health care workers and support local businesses at the same time. The group raises funds to pay local restaurants so they can feed health care workers on the front lines.
Their focus has been on Bucks County and supporting local hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies.
The group is called Fuel the Fight and it has linked to a national organization. In Bucks County it started with a $5,000 goal and has since been raised to $10,000.
So far, the group has provided 360 meals to four different health care facilities, and has partnered with five area restaurants, including Pat’s Colonial Kitchen, Solstice and La Stalla in Newtown, Moish and Itzy’s in Langhorne, and others. Meals have been sent to Lower Bucks Hopsital, Jefferson Bucks Hospital, Doylestown Hospital, Chandler Hall, and more.
Dani Tuller founded the Bucks County chapter of Fuel the Fight on April 19. The idea came from her connection to the organizer of the Fuel the Fight Westchester chapter in New York. Tuller recruited Mike Mirande, Tessa Hoyer and Chris Whitman to help start the Fuel the Fight Bucks County chapter.
“We all come from Bucks County and desperately wanted to do something that would not only just focus on bringing help to our heroes on the front lines, but also to our local businesses which were seeing steep declines in revenue due to the stay-at-home order,” Mirande said.
“All of us have backgrounds in either health care or business, some both, so Fuel the Fight was the perfect blend of both worlds and the organization’s mission was the most logical means to bring about help to those who needed it.”
Tuller, from Newtown, is a business administration student at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, brought back home by the pandemic
Mirande of Langhorne, is a pharmacy student at Jefferson School of Pharmacy, laid off due to the pandemic.
Hoyer of New Hope works in pharmacy and medical training, and Whitman, also from New Hope, works at a medical device company.
The organization Fuel the Fight started in Philadelphia and local chapters have been sprouting up around the country ever since.
“The more people we reach, the more help we can provide,” Mirande said.
To support the effort, visit the organization’s Gofundme page. Venmo donations are accepted at FTFbuckscounty.
The group is seeking recommendations for restaurants they can support. Email fuelthefightbuckscounty@gmail.com with suggestions or for more information.
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