‘Meal for the Hungry’ finds gift cards will work when virus makes donating tough

By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Dec. 10, 2020) Berlin’s Arts and Entertainment committee has held a “Meal for the Hungry” drive on Giving Tuesday for hundreds of people the past four years at St. Paul United Methodist Church on Flower Street. This year, Berlin families received food gift cards instead because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Robin Tomaselli

Robin Tomaselli, vice president of the Berlin Arts and Entertainment Committee and owner of Baked Dessert  Café, said the committee thought it would be inappropriate to ask struggling restaurants to donate food to the drive this year. The current gathering restrictions also prohibited the event from taking place.

“Instead, Arts & Entertainment bought more than $3,000 in food gift cards that are being distributed to local families who have been identified as ‘in need’ by community partners,” she said.

In November, the committee posted on its Facebook page that it was accepting nominations of families in need to receive gift cards from local restaurants.

“People in the community could email us or message us families in need, and, in addition to that, we worked with community partners at pretty much all of the area schools and … with Police Chief Arnold [Downing],” Tomaselli said.

As a result of the covid-19 crisis, many activities usually held by the Berlin Arts and Entertainment Committee were canceled, which provided more than $3,000 to “Meal for the Hungry.  The committee purchased gift cards for $50 each.

“This was our way of being able to take care of people in the community while also supporting local restaurants that have certainly supported us and our mission in the past,” Tomaselli said.

She added that the restaurants were grateful for the gift card purchases.

The restaurant gift cards were paired with Food Lion gift cards, so families had the opportunity to dine out or carry-in a meal as well as afford groceries.

Business leaders such as Patti Backer, owner of The Dusty Lamb on South Main Street, and Lower Shore Land Trust Executive Director Kate Patton and her husband also contributed funds for the gift cards.

“Some of the donations that we received from the community came in in different denominations as far as food gift cards, some were $20, some were $25,” Tomaselli said.

More than $4,000 worth of restaurant and grocery gift cards were distributed.

“We distributed them to the community partners, one at each of the schools and also to Chief Arnold [Downing] for them to distribute per their discretion,” Tomaselli said. “Teachers really know the families that are struggling that really need help, and due to privacy concerns, that’s not information that we needed to know who they were. We just trusted that delivering those items to those community partners, they in turn would distribute them appropriately.”

Tomaselli added that she believes it takes a village to care for those less fortunate.

“We all need to be aware of that, and we all need to – even if socially distanced – be engaged in making sure that the community is a healthy one for all of us, particularly people that are in need,” she said.