Nonprofit Incline Serves raises more than $60,000
to support local restaurants and feed locals in need
Call Incline Serves a winning combo platter.
“That’s a bit of a dad joke my brother came up with for our effort. And he’s not even a dad,” quipped Mary Danahey. “But it gets to the point of what we did.”
What the nonprofit startup Incline Serves did was raise more than $60,000 – reaching its goal to fill that combo platter. The combination in question consisted of helping feed locals in need during the COVID-19 pandemic while also supporting local restaurants in need of business to prepare such meals.
Donations collected allowed Incline Serves to purchase those meals from a handful of Incline eateries, enabling them to rehire some furloughed employees. In turn, Incline Serves donated the locally made dishes to the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, Duffield Youth Program, helping them to give out nearly 9,000 meals to those seeking sustenance between April 25 - June 26, 2020.
Danahey noted that prior to the pandemic the Boys & Girls Club served dinner nightly to youth in their after-school program. On March 25th, after the closure of schools, they realized that a hunger relief initiative was needed for the greater Incline community, not just BGC members. Thanks to support from Dave and Cheryl Duffield, the Club began a dinner service program on MWF for all Incline Village community members.
“Once the COVID crisis hit hard, the number of meals needed jumped from 125 to 300 pretty much overnight. This was consistent with the food request increases seen with Sierra Community House, our local food program,” Danahey said.
At the same time, with measures put in place to slow the spread of the virus, the global economy came close to a halt. Locally, as in many other places, one of these moves was closing bars and restaurants for all but carry-out business.
That cut deep into many a bottom line and led to some temporary local restaurant closures.
A Win-Win-Win Solution
Danahey said the idea for Incline Serves came about after talking with friends and family and doing a bit of research about the pandemic and its impact. She and others felt they could come up with something to make a positive impact in the face of the troubling situation.
“That led to the idea of partnering with local restaurants to feed those in need,” Danahey said. “That way we could at least try to keep some local places afloat, keep a few employees working and keep adults and kids from going to bed hungry.”
Three local restaurateurs stepped up to the plate to participate in the project, Danahey said. Those included John Cheney of Gus’s Open Pit BBQ, Tatiana Martz of both Brewforia Cafe & Market and Bertie’s Hot Chicken and Andrea Gitchell of Azzara’s.
Each business made up to 300 meals on one set, assigned day each week, Danahey said.
Incline Serves created a website, lined up the restaurants and collaborated with the Rotary Club of Incline Village to set up a fundraising portal. The goal was to raise $60,000 and provide 9000 meals between April 25 – June 30. The Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, Duffield Youth Program, collected the meals from the restaurants and distributed them as part of their program mentioned above.
“We feel grateful to have been part of Incline Serves”, said John Cheney of Gus’ BBQ. “Knowing that each Monday for two months we’d have 300 Incline Serves orders to fill provided a bit of stability to our finances during these trying times. That allowed us to put three valued staff members back on the payroll. Knowing that the orders also helped area residents make it through this crisis made it all the more satisfying preparing them. It confirmed for us why we love having our business located in the Incline community”.
Now that people have gone back to work, the need for meals has diminished, but not disappeared. Mindy Carbajal, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, said that they “are continuing the program to provide between 80-120 meals per night. Meals are available to all community members on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for as long as needed.”
Due to the generosity of the Incline Community and that some people are at their jobs again, Danahey said the Incline Serves effort still has a little money left. Those funds will be kept in an account overseen by the Rotary Club of Incline Village.
“With so much uncertainty, and with many new COVID cases reported locally and around the country, we’re going to hold onto those funds in case we have another shutdown and need to restart the program” Danahey said. “If things turn out well and we don’t need another phase of the program by the end of the year, we intend to donate any remaining money to The Boys and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe and/or Sierra Community House (our local food distribution program).
To become a member of the Incline Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe, click on Membership Application or Aplicación para Membresía.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE MEDIA:
Mary Danahey. Phone: 650-743-2309 E-mail: marydanahey@gmail.com
