Our friends at VMware are regular volunteers at St. Francis House, and we could always count on having their teams work in the kitchen and in clothing distribution. Like all of our volunteers, they were disappointed but understanding when we had to put our volunteer program on temporary break in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Well, the “V” in VMware stands for virtual, so the VMware team decided to continue to support SFH, only this time, do it virtually!
VMWare employee and volunteer Tricia Peck put together a GoFundMe page, asking her colleagues to chip in to pay for a meal for our frontline staff. Here was her call to action:
I know we are all missing the opportunity to chop vegetables and serve delicious meals to the guests at St. Francis House (SFH). While the current situation does not allow for volunteers at SFH, their employees are working tirelessly to keep guests healthy and fed.
Let’s encourage the SFH employees by providing them with lunch from a local vendor!
VMware’s goal was to fund one lunch, but the response was so great that they ended up raising enough for three! Two burrito lunches from Boloco – shout out to Boloco for their discounted “Feed the Frontline” menu – and subs from New York Pizza!
As Tricia wrote:
The staff at St. Francis House are putting forth heroic efforts. My spouse is a healthcare worker and donors have generously provided breakfast and lunch for the team every day. It’s a privilege to pass on that generosity to the employees at St. Francis House!
And the employees here are SFH are incredibly thankful for that generosity – and thrilled that they have those yummy lunches to look forward to.
Thank you so much to all our supporters at VMware, and to Tricia Peck for kicking the “Meals for St. Francis House Staff” initiative off.
We hope to see you all back soon! (Just remember: if you forget to bring a ballcap with you, you’ll be wearing a hairnet in the kitchen.)
