CJSTUF in the Time of COVID-19

CJSTUF in the Time of Covid-19

It has been quite a while since our last major update but we wanted to let you know that we haven’t been idle.  Covid-19 has seriously affected operations for nearly everyone in the nonprofit world and we’re no exception.

Friday, March 13th was the last day volunteers were allowed at UVA Hospital in Charlottesville. The following week, they suspended all non-essential personnel activity at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR).  Almost immediately, conversations began with the  Child Life departments of both locations to see how we could keep the Meal Fairies program going, keeping the new restrictions in mind. The solution that became evident at both locations was that we would hand the food off to someone from Child Life and they would distribute it accordingly.

As the weeks progressed, restrictions around food delivery tightened further. Currently, we order most meals online or over the phone and pay the same way.  Roger wears fresh gloves and a mask when he picks up or drops off food and then hands the contents over to Child Life staff members in the designated drop-off area, sometimes never even touching the containers.  Every once in awhile, we can get food delivered by the restaurant, which helps immensely.

Many nonprofits that operate within the Children’s Hospital sphere found it necessary to curtail or outright cease operations, mostly because their services to the families depend strongly upon face-to-face interaction. This is nearly impossible right now. CJSTUF has been able to fill some of these gaps while continuing our current services, even through this challenging crisis.   

Delivery to UVA on a Wednesday!

Since the March shutdown we’ve been delivering food to each hospital on our regular schedule (once weekly to each hospital, plus a bonus delivery to UVA Children’s monthly), but have added extra deliveries to CHoR on Tuesdays and to UVA Children’s on Fridays, effectively doubling the number of people served in a week.  You, our generous supporters, have made it possible for us to do this by making CJSTUF financially stable enough to temporarily take on this extra burden.

We’ve been proud to help support our AMAZING restaurants and suppliers  but the extra activity also means our monthly expenses have doubled. Since the date for relaxing the restrictions keeps getting pushed back, it’s obvious that we will not be able to continue providing food for the families at this increased rate.  We will certainly continue to provide meals on our regular schedule, but we would surely love to continue the expanded service until our fellow nonprofits can resume their regular operations.

It is difficult to ask for donations from people who have already given so much and might be severely affected by the shutdown themselves, but that’s what we need to do.  What is the impact of a delivered meal? Our Child Life allies have told us many stories of the effect of the Meal Fairies:.

Heather Kinney at CHoR, deputized as an official Meal Fairy!

“Another huge success today!  The box lunches worked great, it was plenty to feed the families.  I wish I could film it for you, families grateful and staff SO appreciative it would make you teary!” – Heather Kinney; Child Life Specialist CHoR

“Everyone loved the…subs…The toasted bread and melted cheese were a happy surprise for several moms.  [There were] so many happy parents and staff afterward.  “Thank you” seems insufficient but I’m truly grateful for you.” – Pattie Carrubba; Child Life Specialist UVA Children’s Hospital

We also drop off fruits and veggies to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Charlottesville and they are equally thankful: “We are so grateful for your donation…Our guests very much appreciate your continuing commitment to helping us ensure their health and well-being…” – Rita P. Ralston; Executive Director RMHC Charlottesville

While we love the thank you notes and expressions of gratitude, the descriptions barely scratch the surface of what’s actually happening on the hospital floors.

Families are feeling even more isolated than normal and stress levels are high.  Few, if any, visitors are allowed in and every little cough or sniffle adds its own amount of dread, especially for patients who are immune-suppressed. With fewer and fewer donations being allowed, families have fewer opportunities to realize that they are not alone and that people “on the outside” care and are thinking about them.  Being in the hospital can be exceptionally lonely.

Our occasional meals give these families and caregivers just a tiny little bright spot in their days.   A simple sandwich seems like a feast.  Our meals give hope, and we all know how powerful hope can be.

So this is what we need:  Meal sponsorship.  

Cookies make everybody’s heart happy!

Our budget has always been $300 per meal.  We have often been able to arrange meals for less than that but with everything needing to be packaged separately, costs for both labor and supplies have crept up.  We still get great deals from some vendors but we’ve never wanted to be a drain on the system and we are more than happy to do our tiny part to keep our partners afloat.  It’s like a two-way investment.  Everyone scratches everyone else’s backs (virtually, of course!) and the end result is the continuation of our mission to serve families in their time of need.

While we never refuse donations of any amount, we could sure use the $300 variety.  There’s a “Donate” button on every page of our website and on many of our Facebook posts. Can you afford $10 a month?  You can become a sustaining donor and have it withdrawn automatically from your bank.  You won’t even miss it. A $25 monthly commitment funds one of our meals each year.

Do you own a restaurant or catering business and want to donate food at a reduced cost?  Even if you could only do it once, it would be a huge help. Contact Roger for details regarding the foods we can accept and packaging requirements. 

Here are some of the things our amazing vendors have done for us, above and beyond anything we could expect:

Pepicelli’s Pizza in Ashland has been donating 20 pizzas per month to the Meal Fairies for years and didn’t bat an eyelash when we asked for subs that needed to be wrapped separately.

Subway (both in Ashland and Charlottesville) has gone even further beyond, actually providing subs at all hours and sometimes delivering to the hospital when someone wasn’t available.

Jersey Mike’s of Ashland has always given us a great deal and has supported us in other ways.  The last time we picked up subs, we were informed that April and June’s meals would be on them!

Christopher’s Runaway Gourmay is a food cart that sets up outside the Gateway entrance to VCU Medical Center downtown.  It’s probably the best food cart you will ever experience.  They have already closed up shop due to Covid-19 but still set us up with a special lunch that included separate containers for each meal.

Ashland Coffee & Tea made us some SERIOUSLY tasty lunches.  Owner Cate Hawks made them herself and basically charged us cost.

When I ordered lunches from Homemade’s By Suzanne in Ashland, I expected simple sandwiches and maybe chips but as they brought out the bags and bags of food, I knew we had been given the royal treatment.

Take It Away Sandwich Shop in Charlottesville also opened up just for us and, as always, included PLENTY of their special house dressing!

All this effort, all of your generosity, and all of CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation’s commitment to make any family’s unbearable situation just a little more bearable has resulted in nearly 1,700 patients, family members, and caregivers being served since March 13.

We’ll keep doing what we can as long as we can.  With your help, we will.

Thank you. –Roger and Rachel

The Evolving Meal Fairies Program

“Food, glorious food!  Eat right through the menu!” – Oliver

 

 It’s amazing what you DON’T think about when a health crisis hits; especially when it’s  your child having the health crisis.  One of the many things we learned when  Charlotte was diagnosed with cancer was that, as a parent, food for ourselves was  absolutely the last thing we considered on our list of priorities.  After speaking with  many other parents and caregivers in similar situations, we have found it to be a  consistent sentiment.

 

For us, hospital stays meant eating lots of fast food, vending machine junk, or the  entire lasagna that the neighbor brought over.  So when it came time to start giving  back/paying it forward through CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation, we decided healthy(ish)  meals were a way to start and the “Meal Fairies” program was born.  The Meal Fairies began by offering something of a “telephone tree” kind of system where news of a child’s health crisis was spread and we would try to get someone to run food over to the hospital or their house so that they would have one less thing on their “worry list.”  It only worked passably and we knew there were many more families NOT getting the nourishment they needed.  Something more needed to be done.

 

We approached Heather Kinney in the Child Life Department of Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (where Charlotte received the majority of her treatment) to arrange for meals to be served once a month up on the 7^th floor pediatric wing of the Main Hospital.  We teamed up with Connor’s Heroes Foundation to get everything organized/approved through the hospital and on Thursday, June 28, 2011, the “Lunch Bunch” served it’s first meal to around 50 parents and caregivers.

 

As CJSTUF continued to grow financially, we were able to increase the Thursday meals to a weekly occurrence (including an AMAZING Thanksgiving meal from Homemades By Suzanne) and by the end of 2012, we had served 1177 meals!

 

The Lunch Bunch has continued as a weekly program ever since, offering not only healthy meals to the residents of the 7^th floor but a great way for CJSTUF and CHF to directly communicate with many families within our scope of service.  As of the end of August, The Lunch Bunch had served 2422 meals in 2013, which puts us on pace to triple the number of meals served from last year.

 

Our latest Meal Fairies project is serving occasional Tuesday evening meals at Ronald McDonald House of Richmond.  After staying at the RMH in Houston and seeing the wonderful meals provided by area businesses and churches, we know how much it is appreciated.  So far, we have participated in 4 nights and already have many more planned for the future.  We also hope to expand this service to other hospitals and cities starting early next year.

 

The future for CJSTUF’s Meal Fairies is extremely bright and we are excited at the prospect of increasing the number of families we can help both financially and with the occasional healthy meal.

 

Thanks to the generous discounts provided by our food vendor sponsors such as Pepicelli’s Pizza, Christopher’s Runaway Gourmay, Au Bon Pain, and the aforementioned Homemades By Suzanne, we can serve 70-100 people for about $300 a week.  These weekly expenses, plus the staff required to facilitate meal distribution and visit with the families, add up quickly.

You can continue to help The Meal Fairies in various ways:

1)      On Thursday, September 18, a 36-hour fundraising spectacle called The Amazing Raise will take place.  Hosted by The Community Foundation in Richmond, it will include dozens of local tax-exempt organizations, including CJSTUF, vying for your donations of $25-50 in order to win thousands of dollars in bonus prizes.

Two of those bonus prizes are called the “Lunch Breaks” and will run from 12-2pm on both Sep 18^th and 19^th.  The organization that receives the most donations of $25 or more during this time will get an extra $1000 bonus grant.  A portion of donations we receive from the Amazing Raise during these times will directly benefit the Meal Fairies program.  You can pledge your support for this program today! We will help with the rest.

2)      Volunteer to help cook or provide food for dinners at Ronald McDonald House of Richmond.  We are allowed to either bring in a catered meal or cook the meal itself in their newly renovated (and, might I add, super gorgeous!) kitchen.  Well supervised “younger assistants” are allowed and welcomed. Dates available for volunteering are: Sep. 10^th and then Oct. 1, 22, and 29.  Please contact Roger at roger@cjstuf.org.

3)      Join the growing crowd of regular supporters who contribute through weekly or monthly payroll deductions sent directly to CJSTUF.  Many companies will match your donations.  Ask your Human Resources department.

 

As always, thank you for your tremendous support and please remember: It’s not just food…it’s hope.