BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
Floral Park’s Trinity Bar and Restaurant has been stepping up during the COVID-19 pandemic by sending “comfort food” to area hospitals.
The restaurant is trying to provide “non-typical” food that is being donated in an effort to give hospital staff, nurses and doctors a variety of meals. Workers have been enjoying meals provided by the restaurant, which is gaining funding from a GoFundMe page dedicated to providing these meals.
As of late Thursday morning $19,286 had been raised by the community with 201 donations made with “every dime” going towards creating meals for frontline workers.
Recipients of meals include workers at Northwell Health Long Island Jewish Hospital, Northwell Health North Shore University Hospital, NYU Winthrop University Hospital, NY Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, Long Island State Veterans Home, Good Samaritan Hospital and first responders in Floral Park and neighboring towns, according to the page dedicated to the fundraiser.
A $10 donation provides one meal, $100 provides up to 10 meals and $1,000 provides meals for up to 100 frontline workers, according to the fundraiser’s page. The fundraiser currently has a goal of $25,000, but the group will continue promoting the fundraiser for creating food donations even after breaking past the $25,000 mark.
The fundraiser already provided 200 Easter dinners for frontline workers, according to the organizer of the fundraiser. In total there have been 400 meals donated in the past seven days with NYU Winthrop Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital receiving meals.
“Floral Park is an outstanding community of people who come together in times of need,” the introduction to the fundraiser reads. “Like you, we are grateful for every healthcare & essential worker who acts with courage during this global crisis.”
The distribution of meals is largely done by volunteers from the Floral Park community along with the Floral Park St. Baldrick’s committee and the Hance Family Foundation.
Trinity Restaurant and Bar has also partnered with other local restaurants for the act of kindness.
The response from recipients has been fantastic, said Michael McGuire, the owner of Trinity Bar and Restaurant and organizer of the food donations. Even with so many groups donating food in addition to McGuire’s group, there is still a huge demand.
He said they will see two to three other groups also bringing food when they are and that the “demand is insatiable,” as hospital cafeterias have closed and frontline workers don’t have time to sit down so they get food on the run.
