COVID-19 ResponseFeeding the HungryFundraiser

Our local communities are facing food insecurity, largely due to unprecedented unemployment while our local restaurants are facing extreme financial hardship. Mountain View Appetite for Good and Community Services Agency are working together to solve both problems.

“The pandemic brought incredible economic hardship to our city, causing unemployment that directly led to food insecurity among many residents. At the same time, our restaurants, an economic and cultural treasure, have suffered,” says IdaRose Sylvester, founder of Mountain View Appetite for Good, “I founded this program to help the community solve both problems at once. We help both food insecure residents and restaurants make it through this time.”

The process is simple. Donors buy a voucher for a local restaurant meal through the donation platform, Roonga, and then CSA distributes the vouchers to their clients. Restaurants receive the full price of the voucher, and donations are tax deductible for the purchaser as an in-kind donation to CSA. Vouchers can be purchased here: https://www.roonga.com/appetiteforgoodcsa

“Our clients are really struggling right now. For many, it is so difficult to find resources of any kind, particularly food,” says Tom Myers, CSA Executive Director. “This program is really terrific, it’s going to provide food for our clients while helping out our local restaurants. It’s a win-win all-around. Helping local restaurants also keeps people employed, then hopefully they won’t need CSA’s services.”

The first three restaurants in the program are long-time Mountain View restaurants Ristorante Don Giovanni, Olympus Caffe, and Ephesus. We are looking for more restaurants to join our program. According to Olympus Caffe and Ephesus owner Mehmet Vural, “I joined this program because it is a good way to be a part of this community in this challenging time.”

ABOUT Mountain View Appetite for Good: The program is founded by long-time Mountain View resident, IdaRose Sylvester, to help local nonprofits serve food insecure residents, and help local restaurants survive the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

ABOUT Roonga:  Roonga is reinventing how in-kind goods are purchased and collected for those in need. Nonprofits and their supporters maximize the value of their dollar and time – through streamlined collection logistics and affordable, quality goods offered by our network of handpicked vendors.

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