A new effort to feed the hungry while helping restaurants survive the COVID-19 era launched on the south side Saturday, giving away more than 300 meals at Damascus Gate restaurant on Mitchell Street.
The giveaway will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. On its first day, 300 meals were distributed by 1 p.m., and Damascus Gate quickly assembled some more. In all, 327 meals of curry salmon, beef kebab with rice, and Nigerian and Somali dishes were distributed in about two hours. Others who came for meals had to be turned away.
"If we could afford to give away 500 or 1,000 meals, we would do it," said the Rev. Karen Hagen, an organizer of the event.
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Hungry Hearts Community Meals is the group coordinating the weekly food giveaway, enlisting restaurants, raising funds and helping get out the word among those in need.
The group asked that only one person from a household line up, to help with distancing, but each person could take home up to six meals. Some took only one or two meals, many took home four or five, Hagen said.
Masks for recipients were recommended and available for anyone without one. Those handing out meals by setting them on a table for pickup were wearing masks and gloves.
The relief group Hungry Hearts is an outgrowth of Divine Intervention, a homeless ministry based at Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church at 125 W. Saveland Ave. on the south side. There, volunteers had provided weekly hot meals for the homeless; delivered bagged dinners twice a week; and grew vegetables at the church, donating up to 4,000 pounds of produce.
"All those things had to come to a halt because of COVID," said Hagen, pastor of Tippecanoe Church.
"We have energy and desire as a faith community to be doing more," she said. "We need to be doing something now to meet the current need."
"Our hearts were hungry," she said.
The group looked to the north-side restaurant the Tandem for inspiration, where chef Caitlin Cullen, with the help of 45 other restaurants and local and national donations, small and large, has given away 15,000 meals since the coronavirus pandemic hit Milwaukee.
Hungry Hearts consulted with Cullen and with Gregory León, chef and co-owner of Amilinda restaurant downtown, which previously helped Divine Intervention with its meals.
The group is working with Tables Without Borders — whose refugee members have cooked event dinners at Amilinda and made some of the meals distributed Saturday — and with the Milwaukee chapter of the Hanan Refugee Relief Group.
Hagen believes many of the people picking up meals live in neighborhoods near Damascus Gate, 807 W. Mitchell St., which includes some refugees.
Flyers advertising the meals were printed in Burmese, Spanish, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Swahili, Urdu, Somali, Arabic, French and Hmong, she said. Hungry Hearts also has a Facebook page.
Like the Tandem's program, Hungry Hearts pays each restaurant $10 a meal. Since the pandemic struck and dining rooms closed, restaurants have suffered sharp drops in income and need help themselves.
The restaurants that prepared Saturday's meals were Damascus Gate, Milwaukee's only Syrian restaurant, and the Pasta Tree.
The lineup will rotate. Others expected to take part include Lopez Bakery, LuLu Cafe, Odd Duck, Lazy Susan, Fauntleroy, Goodkind and Dandan, with more to come, Hagen said.
Meats used for the meals are halal to accommodate all recipients. The first distribution happened to coincide with the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting marked by Muslims, and the beginning of the Eid al-Fitr celebration.
The meal giveaway could go at least through the end of summer, depending on donations, with 300 given away each week. "If we can expand, yahoo," Hagen said. It might add a second distribution site, if need be.
Donating to Hungry Hearts
Hungry Hearts began with $6,000 from Divine Intervention, the ministry for the homeless. In quick order, it received more funds, mostly small donations from individuals, but also $3,000 from the Presbytery of Milwaukee.
"The heart of Milwaukee is showing here," said Hagen.
Hagen sees Hungry Hearts as an outlet for people who want to help others during the coronavirus pandemic, a way to "help people make meaning of their experience at this time," she said.
Donations can be made online at the church's website, tippechurch.org, or by mail to Tippecanoe Church, Attention DI Hungry Hearts Community Meals, 125 W. Saveland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207.
To help with distribution, email DIHungryHeartsCommunityMeals@gmail.com.
"The beauty of this is it’s giving individual people in Milwaukee a chance to respond," Hagen said.
Contact dining critic Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.
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