Early this year, we were hit with a crisis like no other. The presence of COVID-19 at our doorstep had restaurants close their kitchens, and countless front-line workers put their health on the line for the good of the community.
As part of the Ottawa community, our very own Josh Raganold devised the #Grub4Scrubs campaign to help others in times of trouble. “We saw two urgent needs in Ottawa”, said Josh. “Exhausted frontline healthcare staff, and local businesses struggling with the reduction in traffic to their stores. We felt like we could help solve both by purchasing and facilitating delivery of healthy meals by these local establishments to help feed and encourage the frontline healthcare staff.” This was his small way of supporting local restaurants and food providers, while showing appreciation for all that our Ottawa healthcare workers do for us each day.
Like many around the world, Managing Partner Micheal Burch also found his work-life out of balance. “In my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined that my last year as a partner at Welch would unfold like this,” said Micheal. “I can’t imagine the strain on our front-line workers. Our immediate response to something like this pandemic is to make sure our close family and friends are all right. Unfortunately, our front-line workers are burdened by the added requirement to make sure the general population is also ok when the virus hits. That must be a very difficult balancing act.”
With the new physical distancing measures, safety precautions, and work-from-home protocols taking the city by storm, thinking outside of the box was a requirement in making his #Grub4Scrubs campaign come to life.
Josh reached out to the staff at Welch LLP and to members of the community with a question: which local restaurants can you simply not live without?
Now with a list of restaurants in one hand and a phone in the other, Josh was able to get the ball rolling. “As you can imagine they were happy to hear from us!” said Josh. “We would pair [the restaurant] with a healthcare service that we felt could use a smile.”
Beginning April 2nd, 2020, and with the help of 19 participating restaurants and partners, Josh Raganold coordinated the orders and delivered the meals each week by hand – at a 6ft distance, of course.
“As the pandemic took shape we noticed our long-term care facilities were seeing an increased workload, we ended up sending most of the meals to help lift the spirits of those workers.” With this in mind, meals were given to the Ottawa’s hard-working frontline workers at 14 hospitals and long-term care homes in the city, totaling 1,025 meals in donations.
There are four major hospitals in the city, and dozens of long-term care homes and healthcare service providers. In many of these locations, part-time staff have been given full-time hours just to keep up with the staffing needs. Canadian Armed Forces were deployed in June to assist in the provincial-wide staffing issue. It is clear that now, more than ever, front-line workers and healthcare providers need our support.
“Due to the pandemic I wasn’t able to speak with any of the recipients directly but you could see how appreciative they were from the pictures they sent us in thanks,” said Josh. “It felt great to help two different groups suffering from the pandemic with the same solution.”
We are glad that community members like Josh are out there giving back to the community and supporting their peers in any way that they can. Managing Partner Micheal Burch had this to say about the campaign:
“We are very fortunate to have Josh in the fold at Welch. He is a strong supporter of our community and is keen to help-out in any way he can. This is a fantastic initiative which allowed Welch to help-out in a small way and we owe it all to Josh. We talk a lot about our values at Welch, and try to relate to our community. We are very fortunate to be in a position to help-out during this unusual time. We have a great spirit at Welch that embraces making a difference wherever we can.”
Here is the Full List of Restaurants, Partners, and Recipients of the #Grub4Scrubs campaign
| # Meals | Recipient 1 | Recipient 2 | Restaurant | Partner |
|
50 |
Civic Hospital Covid Wing |
Freshii Westboro | ||
|
50 |
Ottawa Paramedics |
Mad Radish | ||
|
100 |
Civic Hospital |
Kettlemans | ||
|
50 |
Ottawa Mission |
Pita Pit | ||
|
100 |
Hillel Lodge |
Montfort LTC |
La Botegga Nicastro |
Risk Balance |
|
50 |
Carlingview Lodge |
Green Rebel | ||
|
125 |
St Pats LTC |
Frank’s Deli |
Kelly Santini | |
|
50 |
Elizabeth Bruyere |
Bella’s Boys | ||
|
100 |
Perley Rideau Veterans Centre |
Sandwich Stop |
Halpenny Insurance | |
|
50 |
Queensway Carleton Hospital |
Take Another Bite | ||
|
100 |
Gatineau Hospital |
St. Vincent Hospital |
Olivia Bistro |
Macadaimian Software |
|
50 |
Vilagia in the Glebe |
Wolf Down | ||
|
50 |
Villa Marconi |
Di Rienzo’s | ||
|
100 |
Glebe Centre |
Negozio Nicastros |
Marant Construction | |
|
Total: |
Author
Alexei Vidal
Marketing Coordinator
