Dana Point Rotary Club Helps Send Hugs to Heroes

Thanks to the generosity of Dana Point residents, 140 meals were delivered to frontline covid care workers at the city’s local hospitals last Tuesday. Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Club members contributed $700 of the $1400 donated to Hugs for Heroes for Tuesday’s effort. Subway Dana Point delivered 50 meals to Providence Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach, and Brio Tuscany Grille delivered 90 meals to the hospital’s Mission Viejo campus.

Meals are purchased and delivered for a flat rate of $10 each (subsidized by local restaurants) via community donations made through Capo Beach Church here.

According to Hugs for Heroes founder Toni Nelson, 953 meals, 6 carloads of bulk snacks, and countless “love notes” have been delivered to local hospital workers in the past 12 months thanks to the generosity of Dana Point residents and two philanthropic groups, Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary and Dana Point Woman’s Club (which donated $2,800 in two fundraising efforts.) In total, the Dana Point community has donated almost $10,000 to Hugs for Heroes.

All administrative costs have been covered by Capo Beach Church, the City of Dana Point and volunteers, so that every penny is used to purchase discounted meals. Each meal and box of snacks bears the distinctive “Hugs for Heroes” sticker designed by Dana Point City Clerk, Shayna Sharke.

According to a hospital employee, “these efforts are so appreciated by workers who have been exhausted by the physical and emotional toll of caring for the pandemic’s seriously ill. It means the world to them that the community acknowledges their effort and has sent these much needed “hugs”.

Donations to Dana Point Hugs for heroes may be made here.