Helping the Helpers: Houstonians Step Up to Assist Frontline Workers

In times of trouble, parents often turn to the reassuring advice of Fred Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” 

We are certainly in times of trouble, and we don’t have to look far to find the helpers. Within our own neighborhoods, there are individuals who have stepped up to assist. 

In particular, several individuals are mobilizing to help those who are themselves “helpers”: the frontline workers combatting coronavirus in their jobs every day. 

In the Memorial area, for instance, The Houstonian Hotel offered free barbeque to-go to first responders at an event this week. Throughout the day, Houston Police and Fire Department personnel drove through the hotel’s entrance while hotel staff placed the barbecue meals in their vehicles. 

Housekeeping Manager at the Houstonian Miguel Cruz and Director of Rooms Nihaal Tandon hand out food to Houston Police Officers. (Photo courtesy of The Houstonian Hotel) 

“Like most Houstonians, we wake up every morning and ask ourselves what we can do,” Hotel General Manager Steve Fronterhouse said in a statement. “We respect these men and women and know it’s a small gesture, but it is certainly something that’s heartfelt for us.”

In Bellaire, resident Samir Mehta enlisted his friends Jennifer Cross and Kristi Coffey to organize a sustained effort to bring lunch and dinner to frontline healthcare workers at several local hospitals. 

It all started with just one meal. 

Samir called fellow Bellaire resident and friend Jennifer Cross, asking if she had a contact at Memorial Hermann Medical Center, where Jennifer’s husband previously worked as an emergency burn surgeon. Jennifer provided the contact and also chipped in to deliver a meal to a group of emergency workers at that hospital. 

MD Anderson healthcare workers received dinner from The ‘401 Table and Tap in Bellaire. 

From there, Samir wanted to continue serving frontline health workers, so he asked Jennifer to help him put together a website where anyone could sign up to cater meals for local healthcare workers over the next few weeks.   

“Samir just came up with it as a way to help,” Jennifer said. “He does that – during Hurricane Harvey, he and his friends quickly organized to help.” 

Samir came up with the idea after discovering a website to coordinate food delivery to Chicago’s healthcare workers; he wanted to create a similar page in Houston. Samir and Jennifer, along with local restaurant owner Kristi Coffey, set up this page, where people can sign up to have catered meals delivered to a designated hospital, supporting local restaurants in the process. 

Participating is simple: people who want to help select which hospital they want to give to and then “claim” a particular day. They then order and pay for lunch or dinner for 25 people, ordering from any restaurant of their choice. To help spread costs, people are invited to pool the funds with family and friends. 

The children of Salata owner Iris Campos created these care packages to deliver to healthcare workers on the frontlines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Ambica Sandhir)

Samir and Jennifer worked with individual hospital leadership to secure the necessary approvals and to get specific guidelines for delivery. Samir also created a Facebook page, where people can learn how to get a hospital added to the list of potential delivery locations.  

“In that Facebook group, some hospital staff are also posting photos of the staff receiving the meals with notes saying thank you, we appreciate it,” Jennifer said. “There’s lots of gratitude.” 

Since the page launched on March 30, nine different medical centers in the greater Houston area have been added to the website, and more than 2,500 meals have been delivered. 

“It’s amazing and heartwarming,” Jennifer said of the community’s eagerness to help. “But it’s not surprising – I’ve seen the Houston community come together in amazing ways. I think it’s just what we see Houstonians and Bellaire people do in times of hardship.” 

To learn more, or to sign up to participate, visit the Meals for Houston Area Covid-19 Workers Give InKind page.  

Additional ways to help healthcare workers include: 

The Rice Village district has launched FARE for CARE, a meal donation campaign that will help feed emergency and critical care medical teams with dishes from Rice Village restaurants. 

Donating to FARE for CARE
The Rice Village district has launched FARE for CARE, a meal donation campaign that will help feed emergency and critical care medical teams with dishes from Rice Village restaurants. Rice Village will donate a minimum of 5,000 meals and match community donations for at least another five thousand. Rice Village spots participating include Politan Row, Mendocino Farms, Sixty Vines and Sweetgreen. One hundred percent of donations will be used directly by restaurants for ingredients and meal production. Learn more and donate here.

Donating to Project Frontline
Similar to the InKind page that some Bellaire residents created, a national program called Project Frontline has been launched to help feed healthcare workers fighting the pandemic. In Houston, the organization worked with Benjamin Berg Hospitality Group to provide 300 meals to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital this week. A GoFundMe crowdfunding site has been created to garner support for the national program. Learn more and donate here.

Offering Vacant Space 
A Facebook group called RVs for MDs matches healthcare workers and first responders with vacant RVs, trailers, campers, apartments and other dwellings where they can isolate during the outbreak. If you have a vacant space you are willing to lend out, you can post about it in the group. 

Donating Medical Supplies 
Our medical professionals are running low on urgent supplies such as hand sanitizer, masks and bleach sprays. Project C.U.R.E., the largest provider of donated medical goods, is collecting donations to assist healthcare providers. Find out how to donate and a list of needed items here.

Supporting a Medical Non-Profit
If you don’t have your own store of medical supplies, you can also support by donating money to a non-profit helping equip nurses and doctors with lifesaving medical resources. One such organization is Direct Relief, which is delivering protective masks, exam gloves and isolation gowns to healthcare organizations in areas with confirmed coronavirus cases. 

Editor’s note: Know of more ways to help the helpers? Comment below or email [email protected].