Food is love, some say. If that’s true, then some local restaurants have been showing a lot of love to the community.
Lambert’s Southern Pies & Bake Shop Cafe, O Chulo’s Grill and Bar, Subs & Such, Southland Cafe, Walnut Kitchen and Waterfront Bar and Grill have been providing free meals to people hurt by the federal government shutdown and the interruption of SNAP payments.
“Simple: It’s just the right thing to do,” said Subs & Such owner Mike Mayes. The sandwich restaurant has been giving out family packs on Wednesdays. On Nov. 5, they had 240 families; as of mid-afternoon on Nov. 12, about 110 families had visited, Mayes said. He estimates that each family had on average 2 or 3 people.
“This is where my heart is,” Mayes said. “At the end of the day, we want to help our community. They’ve helped us so much. This place has been around for 41 years now. For a small mom-and-pop place, that doesn’t happen without the community sticking around. So in return, we can recirculate the dollars back to our community. That’s what important to me, to our ethos here. We want to be good community members, and things like this (free meal program) are part of that. It’s a no brainer.”
Helping the community is also a no-brainer for Matt Roberts, owner of Waterfront Grill. “it was an easy decision,” he said. “A lot of people need help and nobody wanted to help. I’ve been in that situation when I needed help, and there was nobody to help me. So we just do what we can.”
Waterfront has been giving out hot take-home family meals that feed four with hearty chili or spaghetti. They’ve given out nearly 140 meals so far, feeding more than 500 people.
Lisa Misosky, co-owner of Southland, echoed these sentiments. “It’s important to help your community where you can, when you can,” she said. Southland Cafe has been offering free lunches of grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup since Nov. 3. Misosky estimates they’ve served about 130 such lunches as of Nov. 11.
“This affects everyone,” she said. “It’s much further reaching than people might realize, and the idea of people going hungry when there’s something we can do seems unconscionable.”
Lambert’s has been giving out casseroles on Thursdays in November. The first week, owner Angela Lambert said they distributed more than 70 of the casseroles, each of which feeds 10 people. “We have this opportunity to help,” Lambert said, “And of course we want to help if we can.”
Walnut Kitchen could not be reached for this story, but they handed out bagged meals in the first week of November. According to a post on social media, they distributed 82 such meals, which feed four people.
O Chulo’s has just started their free meal program, in which folks can get a free lunch on Wednesdays, no paperwork required. Manager Ruben Riveros estimated they served 40 people on Nov. 12. “It’s a way to help people get through this (food crisis),” he said.
“I saw what was happening,” he said. “I talked to my wife, Mildred, and we said, ‘These people don’t have paychecks; they still need food.’ They depend on food stamps. This is a big problem.”
Big problems call for big solutions. These restaurateurs said they are committed to helping the community in the long run, not just this week or this month. “My sister and I got food stamps when we were children,” Misosky recalled. “That’s something you don’t ever really forget. For us, the last week before the food stamp disbursement came was always powdered milk and crappy cereal. Even that, the powdered milk and crappy cereal, it ran out for these folks over a week ago, in October. Now what are they supposed to do? At least this way, folks are getting at least one hot meal.”
“Help when you can,” Roberts echoed. “How can some people lack empathy? I’ve been there, and now I can help.”
Mayes has been offering Subs & Such’s employee discount to federal workers lacking their paychecks since October. “Easy. No-brainer,” he reiterated. “Just help out. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. It doesn’t have to be a business decision.”
Lambert has been quietly feeding people as long as her shop has been in businesses. “I think of this as my ministry,” she said. She grew up in low-income housing and remembers that experience all too well. Now, churches often refer homeless and hungry people to her for a free meal. “Nobody should go hungry when we can feed them,” she said.
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