SEATTLE — One of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been the restaurant and hospitality industry.
The restrictions placed on mass gatherings plus the fear people have of contracting the coronavirus have taken a heavy toll on workers in the industry.
The nonprofit organization Big Table specializes in “supporting restaurant and hospitality workers before they fall of the ledge.”
“We started in 2009 in Spokane to care for those in the restaurant hospitality industry, expanded to Seattle in 2015,” said Kevin Finch from Big Table. “And what I had noticed when I was working moonlighting as a restaurant critic is that folks that work in the restaurant hospitality industry are some of the hardest working folks. But behind the smiles, there's more concentrated need in this industry than I've seen anywhere else in the nation.”
Big Table helps those in need within the industry by ensuring food security in a way that goes beyond a typical food bank distribution.
“One family, a couple, both of them working in the industry, they were able to get some food from food banks, but none of that included fresh fruits and vegetables,” Finch said. “They were just saying, ‘Please, we need some way to feed our kids healthy food.’
“What we've seen is that a gift card allows a family to care for themselves, cook the foods that they want to make rather than go, ‘What do I do with this?’ So during the pandemic we've been focusing on food security and then housing stability, because the cost of housing is such a huge issue, and if a family loses their home there's just a domino effects that are so hard to recover from.”
One of Big Table’s partners in this effort is Safeway, which is providing employment for displaced restaurant and hospitality workers.
“We noticed when restaurants started having to close and people otherwise weren't going to them that we were seeing a lot more people come through our doors,” said Sara Osborne from Safeway. “We knew instantly who that would impact, which is the restaurant workers. And all of a sudden we had more hours and more positions to fill, so we're certainly seeing restaurant workers come in and work in our stores.”
In addition to providing employment opportunities, Safeway has awarded Big Table a grant in the amount of $100,000 for Nourishing Neighbors funding. This funding will feed 250 individuals and their families by providing Albertson’s/Safeway grocery gift cards to be disbursed to those in financial crisis as a result of the pandemic.
“During this time people should at least have easy access to food, and food is often comfort,” Osborne said. “But if you have to spend your time wondering where you're going to find that food and having to deal with unfamiliar food that takes the entire experience away.”
Big Table operates on a referral system, meaning that you can go to their website and refer someone you know within the industry for help.
“What that does is gets us to the folks most in need very quickly, and it also takes away some of that stigma of people asking for help,” Finch said. “Many of the folks most in need won't ever ask for help for themselves, and we are able to then, through those referrals, get to those people and then we reach out to them directly and give them dignity by simply saying, ‘Hey, we hear you're going through a rough spot we would love to help.’”
Sponsored by Safeway. Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.