Posted on May 7, 2021 by jhcfadm
Our COVID-19 Efforts: Giving Back to the Community We Love
At the James H. Cole Legacy Foundation, we’ve been working hard over the past year to give back to the frontline workers and essential healthcare employees who have been sacrificing so much to keep the rest of the community safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the generous donations of local Southeast Michigan restaurants and catering companies, we were able to donate more than 500 meals to police departments, fire houses, and hospitals throughout the Detroit community. We dubbed these efforts the “Love Thy Neighbor” campaign, and it launched with a massive bang!
Love Thy Neighbor: What Did We Do?
From the beginning, we knew we wanted to be able to deliver hot meals to essential and frontline workers during their shifts, so we reached out to local Michigan companies for participation and were thrilled with the amount of positive feedback we received. Among those who joined the cause, Buddy’s Pizza provided individual pizza slices and salad (all packaged separately), Bucharest Grill provided sandwich wraps and French fries, Lonestar Catering provided breakfast sandwiches and fruit, and Smokey G’s Smokehouse provided BBQ.
To stay safe and abide by COVID food safety regulations, no volunteers took part in creating or distributing the meals. Rather, the food was prepared and packaged individually by the restaurants and food vendors themselves. Already familiar with the process and regulations, the vendors were able to significantly cut down on the time needed to prep these meals. The vendors then delivered the meals to pre-determined locations.
We were proud to partner with Detroit and Michigan-based companies, giving back to essential workers in an impactful way.
Love Thy Neighbor: How Did We Do It?
“Love Thy Neighbor” has been an ongoing effort since it began in April 2020. Arising based on the immediate need of essential workers struggling in our community, it immediately became a James H. Cole Legacy Foundation staple.
Each initiative is planned a month in advance of the event taking place. For example, meal outreach efforts were planned in April in order to be delivered in May.
Additional Outreach Efforts in Metro Detroit
Love Thy Neighbor was not only limited to meal delivery. We also completed our Back-to-School backpack giveaway in which we donated 500 backpacks to the students of Detroit Collegiate Preparatory High School at Northwestern. In each backpack were disposable masks, various school supplies (such as notebooks), hand sanitizer, and a $10 GrubHub gift card.
For National Teddy Bear Day, we also donated more than 50 bears to the Pure Heart Foundation.
According to Antonio Green, President of the Legacy Foundation, “There are many ways to service the community. Making sure our students have the necessary tools for success and our children have opportunities to experience joy, even in these most trying times, is a priority for us.”
How YOU Can Get Involved
Interested in volunteering with the James H. Cole Legacy Foundation? You can sign up via the contact form on our website. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have about our initiatives, fundraisers, and other efforts. We also accept direct donations; 100% of which go directly toward benefiting the community.
We appreciate all of the incredible support we have received from the members of our community, and we’re so excited to be giving back to the Detroit community that has supported our partner organization, James H. Cole Home for Funerals, for more than 100 years. To learn more about our efforts, check out other James H. Cole Legacy Foundation blog articles.
We appreciate all of the incredible support we have received from the members of our community, and we’re so excited to be giving back to the Detroit community that has supported our partner organization, James H. Cole Home for Funerals, for more than 100 years. To learn more about our efforts, check out other James H. Cole Legacy Foundation blog articles.
Posted in Events, Programs & Initiatives