Without a doubt, these unprecedented times we are going through, have made us all re-evaluate many aspects of our lives. Apart from personal re-evaluations, we also made some collective ones, as a society. We all feel there are specific people living amongst us who are entitled to be called heroes.
These heroes are the ones daily risking their lives to treat or help others, losing their sleep, losing meals, but also enduring, giving care and hope to the sick and making us feel safe. They are those working on the front-line. They are the NHS.
As unbelievable as it sounds, when the country started experiencing the pandemic effects, the NHS staff on the front line had great difficulty accessing hot, healthy meals. Those working in critical care wards especially. Although countable restaurants and businesses in the food industry made huge discounts for the NHS staff, and NHS trusts stepped up, it wasn’t enough. Something more was needed.
This was the reason FeedNHS a £1,000.000 fundraising project, was funded by some very enlightened individuals – actors Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory & Matt Lucas and LEON founder John Vincent and wife Katie Derham. They’ve raised over £1,200,000 in less than a month and managed to bring together groups of restaurants, multiple chefs, food wholesalers and manufacturers, all offering their food and services to the NHS free of charge.
Recently, FeedNHS partnered with Mealforce, Baxter Storey – a group of businesses working with the charity NHS Helpforce- and Feed Our Frontline to coordinate their campaigns to feed the NHS teams.
The results are brilliant! Through this coalition, 25,000 hot meals per day are being delivered to NHS staff throughout the country and they’ve raised funds to serve more than 1 million meals nationwide.
We are very proud to announce, that from today, we are a part of this collective effort!
We believe there’s nothing more delicious and comforting than Greek souvlaki and chips, and that’s exactly what we’ll be serving 550 portions of daily, to the amazing and courageous NHS staff of Great Ormond St and UCLH hospitals.
We’d also like to appeal to all friends of The Real Greek to help this amazing coalition in any way they can – any amount is significant and most of the funds raised, have been kindly donated by the generous support of 24,000 individuals already.
However, more money is required in order to increase the number of meals served. You can help support this not-for-profit campaign here.
These may be hard times we’re all experiencing, but hopefully, in the end, they’ll be overpowered by our gratitude and admiration for all those who stepped up. In times of need, we Greeks believe solidarity is the way forward. Stay united and help one another and better days will definitely come. Until then, keep your loved ones close, take care of yourselves and when all this is over, we’ll all feast together in our restaurants.
