A team of Letterkenny chefs who were laid-off due to coronavirus are refusing to down tools in order to cater to the elderly and vulnerable people in the town.
Six chefs have united to launch a new branch of ChefAid in Letterkenny – a free hot meal delivery service for housebound members of the community.
The kind-hearted team have all been temporarily laid-off from their roles in local restaurants, cafes and hotels. But they were inspired by ChefAid Donegal Town to get back into the kitchen to donate their time and skills to help others in need.
ChefAid Letterkenny volunteers, keeping social distance as they launched the community initiative at the Honeypot Coffee House. Photo Brian McDaid
Daily specials will be cooked at Honeypot Coffee House and delivered by vetted volunteers and community gardaí to anyone who is elderly or compromised.
The culinary team so far is: Dee Stanislavov, Lukusz Kurek, Revita Purva, Annamaria McCullough, Johnny Mulgrew, Zena McMonagle and Graeme Love. More will be coming on board in the coming days.
Dee Stanislavov and James Green have kindly offered the Honeypot premises for the project while Letterkenny C.D.P. is backing the administration logistics.
Seed money of €2000 has been pledged by Honeypot Coffee House and a further pledge of €500 was provided by ChefAid Donegal Town. Now, the project is reliant on community donations to keep going for as long as required. A GoFundMe campaign is open now and all support would be greatly appreciated.
Dee Stanistovov from the Honeypot Coffee House in Letterkenny who had adapted his restaurant for this community initiative by the Letterkenny CDP to cook meals for those isolated Photo Brian McDaid.
Margaret Toner from Letterkenny C.D.P., who will be taking bookings, said the response so far has been amazing: “The first meals go out on Friday from 4pm to 6pm and it will be daily deliveries after that. We have a safety policy on deliveries and they will be non-contact. All people need to do is phone the number 0873891500 (text orders cannot be facilitated) between 10am and 12noon to order for the following day. We won’t be refusing anybody and we will be hoping to connect with other ChefAid groups beginning in Donegal to meet the demand.”
Councillor Gerry McMonagle, Director of Letterkenny CDP and Letterkenny ChefAid co-ordinator said: “There is a lot of vulnerable people out there now. We are filling a gap in helping the organisations that are doing great work but are overrun with the demand. There are a lot of good-natured people out there looking to do things and support.
“The chefs and the team are all giving their time freely to do this and it is very much welcomed. I want to commend the Honeypot for providing the premises too.
“What we need now is the finances to run this properly and cover the costs,” Cllr McMonagle added.
Anyone who feels that they qualify for meals from ChefAid Letterkenny is asked to call the number below. Follow the Honeypot Coffee House Facebook for updates and more information. To donate, please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/chef-aid-letterkenny
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