As the coronavirus pandemic continues to leave many people and restaurants in the community struggling to find meals or make ends meet, one local resident has devised a way to turn what had previously been a hobby into a charitable endeavor focused on attacking that issue.
Carrie Brogren started the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Foodies Facebook group last July with the intention of sharing information about her favorite local restaurants — things like events, openings and favorite recipes.
During a recent interview with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck, Brogren explained how the coronavirus outbreak shifted the group’s focus toward charitable efforts in a time of need.
It all began in late March, she said, when a member of the group named Joan Moon shared a post looking for recommendations for a local restaurant that would be able to make a large delivery to the emergency department at UNC.
Over the next hour, she was able to contact a manager at Jimmy John’s and have 75 sandwiches sent over.
From that point on, other members of the group began to find inspiration from Moon’s sudden act of generosity.
Brogren noticed what was happening, but also realized it would be tough to continue providing a meal train through just her Facebook group alone—especially as someone without any prior experience running a charity.
“There’s a fair amount of organization that has to happen in order to keep everyone safe,” Brogren said. “So, that’s going to be an ongoing process. But we did decide to switch gears a little bit and we were made aware that IFC has seen a decline in donations, so we decided maybe we could shift our focus and still support local restaurants by ordering meals and then have those meals delivered to charities like the IFC and the Ronald McDonald House.”
In addition to partnering with local charities, Brogren created a sign-up sheet where members of her group can volunteer to help out the cause.
“We have groups within each charity that we can provide meals for,” Brogren said. “So, they can choose which group they would like to feed on any given night. They can choose the restaurant of their choice. And the restaurant then benefits and delivers the meal. It’s just sort of a win-win for everybody.”
Brogren has also sent out posts directly intended for local restaurants, letting them know what the group is doing and offering to try and help find unique, cost-effective ways to provide pre-packaged meals for people in need.
She said the response has been great to this point, with the goal now to create a list of restaurants that are getting involved to make it even easier for her group members to get the ball rolling.
Membership in the group has also seen a sharp rise, with over 5,200 people now a part of it—an increase of nearly 500 in just the last two weeks alone.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that in all of this negativity, there is some positivity out there,” Brogren said. “And it’s wonderful to see that within a matter of an hour really one of our members managed to pull off a really inspiring act of kindness by having that meal delivered. Just to have something like that spark and create and go on to be an actual program—I think that’s just a really cool thing.”
To visit the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Foodies Facebook group, click here.
