Authors Waldman, Chabon aid hospital staffs, restaurants
Good deeds among neighbors have flourished during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, novelistsscreenwriters Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon have joined the trend.
Late last week, Waldman took to social media to report that the Berkeley couple has vowed to buy 25 meals a week from various East Bay restaurants to feed the emergency room staff at Oakland’s Highland Hospital “for as long as this thing lasts.” Since then, their push to support local restaurants and health care workers has expanded with Waldman urging Bay Area residents to join the cause and extend the meal program to a daily routine involving more hospitals and eateries.
On Sunday, she reported that they’ve raised over $5,000, thanks to big-hearted contributors. “We’re so stoked that people have responded like they have,” Waldman said. “And we’ve been inundated with restaurants eager to cook and help. Some have even offered discounts, but no, we want to pay full freight.”
Waldman said she got the idea for the program after a friend told her about a person who dropped off food for ER doctors at San Francisco General Hospital. She subsequently asked Tanya Holland, owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland, to prepare 25 meals for Highland Hospital workers at a cost of approximately $600.
She now has enlisted the help of Jenny Schwarz, coowner of Oakland’s Hopscotch restaurant, to organize the restaurant piece of the growing program and oversee “safety and quality standards,” while Waldman handles the fundraising.
“If you live in the Bay Area, I know how much you eat out,” Waldman said. “We’re asking people to donate as much as they would have spent eating out during the week.”
“Restaurants are the heart of our community,” she added.
Potential donors can contact Waldman via email at ayeletw@gmail. com.