Free Meals Delivered To Emory Healthcare Workers: GA Coronavirus

ATLANTA, GA — The charity arm of the Atlanta Hawks has partnered with State Farm to deliver meals for frontline workers treating the coronavirus at Emory Healthcare. The meal deliveries started on Friday and will take place for the next four weeks.

The multi-week meal program serves to help the Atlanta restaurant community, said the donors. They said this allows restaurants to re-employ workers who were recently laid off or furloughed due to the financial effects of the COVID-19 situation.

“In this extremely stressful time for so many in the health field, we hope that by delivering a quality, nutritious meal we can provide a bit of relief, give them one less thing to worry about and remind them that we care about them and appreciate all that they are doing for Atlanta," said Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena CEO Steve Koonin in a news release.

“The fact that we can help great Atlanta restaurants re-hire staff and keep their local suppliers in business is a powerful benefit that also helps the community."

With frontline caregivers being asked to work longer shifts and hospitals nearing capacity, the Hawks Foundation and State Farm are funding the preparation of 4,000 meals weekly to serve approximately 1,000 healthcare workers restaurant-quality, nutritious meals that serve two five times a week.

“We are so grateful for the amazing community support from the Hawks, State Farm, Miller Union and Storico Fresco /Forza restaurants, and locally-sourced farms to provide our front-line health care workers with nutritious meals to take home at the end of their shifts,” said Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, president and CEO of Emory Healthcare.

“This act of kindness will go very far with our employees who are caring for patients with COVID-19 in our hospitals. We thank everyone for this terrific partnership.”

Six Emory Healthcare hospital locations will receive meals for care team members treating those suffering from coronavirus symptoms.

Meals are being prepared by two local Atlanta restaurants: Forza Storico, a traditional Roman restaurant by the owners of Storico Fresco, and Miller Union, a Southern restaurant co-owned by James Beard award-winning chef Steven Satterfield.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic and current regulations to prevent the spreading of the virus, both restaurants, like many others in the Atlanta community, were temporarily closed and forced to lay off staff.

The multi-week meal program is expected to be expanded in the near future.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry is astounding. We are forever grateful for the support of the Hawks Foundation and State Farm to allow us to operate during this trying time. We are honored to serve the medical workers caring for our community,” said Mike Patrick, executive chef at Forza Storico.

Principal Owners Tony Ressler and Jami Gertz, Hawks President of Basketball Operations Travis Schlenk, Head Coach Lloyd Pierce, members of the team and Atlanta natives and music entertainment icons 2 Chainz, Killer Mike and Quavo shared their appreciation for Atlanta’s Healthcare Heroes here.