New donors-for-dinner group fills Kzoo healthcare workers’ bellies

Bronson healthcare workers will be delivered meals starting Monday, the first from a new group harnessing tens of thousands of dollars to feed workers on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group, Feed the Fight Kalamazoo, said in a weekend press release that it is inspired by a similar Washington, D.C.-based organization, and is operated under the umbrella of local non-profit Colleagues International.

Jodi Michaels, executive director of Colleagues International, said Monday morning that 132 meals are scheduled through Wednesday. 

Since launching April 9, according to a press statement, it raised “more than $30,000, including $1,000 in small gifts online in the opening hours, and a gift from a very generous donor that gives us a running start,” Michaels said.

The cost to the organization is $10 per meal, negotiated with a handful of restaurants thus far and delivering to Bronson Methodist Hospital.

“We receive the funds and then we match them with restaurants, and particular shifts to feed,” Michaels said. “The restaurant selection starts from locally owned. We are doing our best to find everybody – relying both on lists compiled by others and through doing our own outreach across the community.”