June 30, 2020 | From City of New Orleans
City of New Orleans Launches Unprecedented COVID-19 Meal Assistance Program in Partnership with FEMA and Local Restaurants; Residents Encouraged to Apply
NEW ORLEANS — Today, the City of New Orleans announced the commencement of its COVID-19 meal assistance program, which will engage local restaurants to provide much needed food to eligible New Orleanians experiencing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that because of COVID-19, many of our residents are unable to put food on their tables,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “Local non-profit organizations have stood up in unprecedented ways to provide our people with food these last few months, and I am so grateful to them. But the need continues. That’s why we’ve partnered with FEMA and Revolution Foods to build this first-of-its-kind emergency meal program, which will help fill that gap.”
About the Program
A cost-sharing collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), this program will engage Revolution Foods and its local restaurant partners to cook, package and deliver two meals per day to vulnerable residents for at least 30 days. Eligible recipients are COVID-impacted residents not receiving other federally supported food assistance, including seniors, adults with high-risk health conditions and special medical needs, COVID-positive individuals or those who are quarantined, homeless residents, and children under age 18. The New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP) will manage this meal-assistance program on behalf of the City. The Greater New Orleans Foundation played a critical role in assisting the City to analyze food insecurity data and to develop a model that would both feed people in need and provide a lifeline to the struggling restaurant industry.
Beginning in July, fresh, nutritious meals will be prepared by more than 100 local restaurants through the Chef’s Brigade coalition along with Revolution Foods, organized and stored by the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), packaged by Revolution Foods, and delivered by d’livery NOLA to several central feeding sites and, in some cases, to residents’ homes. This program is expected to re-employ several hundred New Orleanians who have been out of work due to the pandemic. Restaurants that would like to join in this effort should use the form found on the Chef’s Brigade website: chefsbrigadenola.org.
“Chef’s Brigade is a now proven concept and system that is a true disaster-response food machine,” said Chef’s Brigade founder and Executive Director Troy Gilbert. “We've built a nimble, scalable and powerful mechanism to produce enormous quantities of nutritious New Orleans comfort foods for those in need, while providing an emergency financial lifeline to many in our beloved and culturally important restaurant industry, whether that's restaurants, purveyors or independent chefs.”
"We’re committed to providing greater access to healthy and delicious, chef-crafted meals and are honored to support this innovative model that is not only nourishing thousands of NOLA residents but also supporting hundreds of local jobs,” said Kristin Groos Richmond, founder and CEO of Revolution Foods.
Apply to Receive Meals
If you are in need of food, are in any of the following categories, and are not receiving any other federal food support, call 3-1-1 (504-658-2299) or go to nola.gov/311 to apply for this program, which serves:
- Seniors age 65 and above
- Adults with high-risk health conditions and special medical needs
- Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 or have been exposed and require isolation or quarantine
- Homeless residents
- Children under age 18
Per FEMA rules regarding duplication of benefits, residents already receiving food assistance through SNAP, Meals on Wheels, the NOLA Public Schools Meal Program, or the State-sponsored homeless hotel services will be ineligible for this program. If you do not meet the eligibility requirements of this program and you are in need of food assistance, please call 2-1-1 to be connected to other services.
About Chef’s Brigade
In response to COVID-19, Chef’s Brigade was formed as a nonprofit corporation by a coalition of chefs, restaurants, and purveyors to feed our fellow citizens, first responders and healthcare professionals daily hot and healthy meals, while providing a financial lifeline to New Orleans’ beloved restaurant industry. The concept bundles restaurants together within a brigade system, providing a nimble, scalable, economic, and powerful mechanism to feed multiple distribution points, while simultaneously providing a new financial stream to local restaurants, purveyors, and independent chefs. For more information visit chefsbrigadenola.org.
About Revolution Foods
Founded in 2006 by two businesswomen and moms on a mission to build lifelong healthy eaters, Revolution Foods set out to solve the problem of limited access to healthy meals for every child in America. The company’s innovative approach began with serving freshly prepared, healthy meals to students in schools nationwide, and the company has now designed, produced and delivered 430 million kid-inspired, chef-crafted meals to sites across 18 states, including childhood education centers, districts, charter schools, and community and after school youth programs. Revolution Foods’ experience shows—and studies support—that nutritious foods drive improved health and academic outcomes. A recent impact assessment conducted by KKS Advisors on behalf of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found schools that serve Revolution Foods saw an improvement of 13.1% in English Language Arts (ELA) test results. Together with best-in-class community partners such as FoodCorps, Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation and Wellness in the Schools (WITS), Revolution Foods equips parents, teachers and students with valuable tools and resources to continue positive nutrition education beyond the lunch line. Revolution Foods is a certified B Corporation, awarded as one of B Corps’ 2019 Best for the World honorees, that aims to drive systems change, from policy and food systems evolution to driving positive student academic and health outcomes to build a brighter future for our nation’s youth and families. For more information, visit revolutionfoods.com.