Pandemics have a way of bringing people together even when they’re asked to stand six feet apart. Smiles may be hidden behind masks, but the sparkle in people’s eyes when they deliver piping hot meals to exhausted frontline workers or food insecure individuals is unmistakable. And it’s happening in establishments all over greater Boston—new places, old places, places around for 30, even 300 years in business. 

When a health food store and an historic inn were asked to help those in need, Debra’s Natural Gourmet in West Concord and The Wayside Inn Foundation (TWIF) in Sudbury both answered with a resounding yes. Fears of COVID-19 didn't stop their dedicated staff from preparing hundreds of signature meals to be distributed from Boston to Marlborough.

Debra’s Natural Gourmet, an upscale grocer and winner of the 2015 Retailer of the Year (Best Health Food Store, Whole Foods Magazine), has been a cornerstone in the community for over 30 years. Its shelves are stocked with fresh, organic local produce, as well as delicious baked goods, specialty items, pastured meats and fermented foods. And they have a phenomenal kitchen staff. 

The place was always bustling inside—that is, until March. Soon after the pandemic caused many businesses to hang handwritten “Sorry, We’re Closed” signs on their storefront windows, Adam Stark, chief miscellaneous officer and son of the eponymous Debra, was approached by one of his customers. She asked if Debra’s Natural Gourmet would be interested in participating in the Fuel the Fight: Concord fundraiser by preparing meals for Emerson Hospital workers. “Our customers are people whose faces we recognize and whose names we know,” says Stark, “so it’s not as though we were approached by strangers.” 

Large national events were being cancelled and states were beginning to mandate lockdowns. People were scared and were doing whatever they could just to try to pay their bills. Stark knew  fellow shopkeepers and restaurant owners who had to lay off pretty much their entire kitchen staff because there suddenly wasn’t any interest in prepared foods. 

“In over 30 years we’ve never had to lay off employees, and it wasn’t something we were looking to do, so when they approached us of course we said yes,” said Stark. That is, after he checked with Roxanne Bispham, kitchen manager, who didn’t even bat an eye when she said: “We can do this.” 

According to Fuel the Fight: Concord’s Go Fund Me page, 367 people generously donated over $43,000 within two months of its inception. This allowed 22 local restaurants and shops to prepare 5,535 meals and snacks for Emerson Hospital staff while they battled COVID-19 this spring. 

When Stark jumped on board, he was prepared to offer their services “at a discount, and do it around our cost, because we just wanted to find a way to make this happen.” As essential workers, the staff at Debra’s Natural Gourmet interacted directly with the public on a daily basis, which looked very scary for a lot of people, but they knew hospital staff would be bearing the brunt of the tidal wave if it actually hit. 

But that’s not what happened. “Fuel the Fight: Concord actually came back and said they were looking to pay full price for this [service] because they also wanted to support local businesses,” says Stark. 

It was serendipitous. On a business level, staff would be able to continue receiving a paycheck which everyone desperately needed. On a personal level, they’d be helping others by doing something they love. “This was really a lifeline to some businesses especially as they tried to figure out transitioning to curbside or take out,” said Stark. 

Considering the stressful situations hospital staff routinely find themselves in, nutritious meals were a welcome respite—even if they had to be eaten on the fly with face shields within reach. Stark wanted the foods they delivered to bring comfort to someone who’s just been on the run dealing with 100 draining medical responsibilities. He considered many options because they already made a lot of grab-and-go, but they also did catering for large groups. “We tried to hit that sweet spot between being satisfying and being easy and still being something a little special.” Take Debra’s chicken barley soup. It’s made with dark meat from free range chickens, organic barley and vegetables, dill, herbs and spices. According to Cassandra Macias, prep cook, “it is the number one seller in our kitchen, believe it or not, all year round. People can’t get enough of it.” 

Individual restaurants were responsible for preparing meals on specific days so kitchen staff at one establishment wouldn’t get inundated. This system allowed a smorgasbord of foods to be offered to hospital workers. Envision a complex, color-coded family calendar, but instead of doctors’ appointments and soccer practices, restaurant names and meals fill up the days. When it was Debra’s Natural Gourmet’s turn to create care packages for Emerson Hospital’s staff, they made over 90 meals each time they cooked. “We make a delightful, crisp green salad with organic everything, and a house-made dressing. And then there’s the wicked, 100% whole wheat, organic chocolate cake,” says Stark. A perfectly healthy slice of comfort.

Prep cook and “soup slinger” Macias said she enjoyed making one of her personal favorites, carrot parsnip soup. It’s made with dill and finished with smoked olive oil, but best of all, it can be enjoyed either hot or cold. According to Bispham, they delivered over 200 snacks to Emerson Hospital, too: Mezze Snack Boxes, Debra’s Macaroons and a Trio of Mini Muffins. 

Everything was put in boxes, labeled and separated by department so when deliveries were made, and Macias and her team went to the docking stations, they knew exactly what area of the hospital each package was going to. “I labeled the boxes and put some letters in there. One of the maternity units sent us a thank you card, which I thought was really special. We have a very small kitchen to begin with, so with the social distancing guidelines we can only really have about four people total in the kitchen, so it definitely was a huge team effort,” says Macias. 

When Stark thinks back to the early days, things were pretty rough. “Honestly, the first month and a half, it felt like we were struggling so hard to keep our heads above water. Everyday there was a staff member with another concern, there was a huge influx of customers and we just didn’t know what to do. There was no leadership from Washington or even the state at that time. We didn’t do anything but just make food and get paid and feel good doing it,” says Stark. “The most we were trying to do to support the community was just really to support our staff.” Fuel the Fight: Concord led the way, and it was a godsend. 

Something similar happened in Sudbury when The Wayside Inn was given funding to help food insecure individuals. This celebrated inn, more than 300 years old and affectionately referred to as Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, has seen its fair share of plagues, wars and economic depressions. Surrounded by massive oaks and lush perennial gardens, it is normally bustling with activity, from weddings to family reunions. This spring was very different, though. The pandemic caused Steve Pickford, innkeeper, and The Wayside Inn Foundation’s (TWIF) first Nonprofit Director, Sally Hild, to think outside the box. 

“The Wayside Inn is a unique site serving residents in the MetroWest area as a place for recreation and repose, but it also hosts curious travelers from across the country and around the world,” says Hild. When COVID-19 caused the inn to close its doors in March, significant revenue opportunities were lost, as well as its ability to promote early American humanities and culture. During these uncertain times it was important to continue the innkeeping tradition that dates back 1716. 

Although the nonprofit charitable organization, TWIF, owns, operates and maintains The Wayside Inn Historic Site, made up of nine historic buildings and over 100 acres of land including fields and walking trails through the woods, The Wayside Inn property “is privately maintained and not funded by the Town of Sudbury as a public park, which is a common misconception,” says Hild. Early in the pandemic, when the term “social distancing” was being introduced and people started using bandanas to cover their faces, many of the inn’s staff had to be furloughed and day-to-day tasks were kept running by the managers. 

When to-go dining was finally allowed in April, Pickford—who is always up for a challenge—led the charge for The Wayside Inn to serve family-style to-go dinners.  “There were considerations for how a traditional fine-dining restaurant serving meals to go would be packaged for travel, but the staff pivoted and rose to the occasion, keeping our kitchens running and remaining staff working,” says Hild. 

But they wanted to do more. “As a community nonprofit, we should be helping locally where we can. So, we looked inward to see what resources we could offer that would be of use until we are all out of the woods. We have a kitchen, we have a skilled staff of chefs and we are trained in hospitality and in serving people. So, we opened the grounds and we fired up the ovens to do what we could to help feed those in need,” says Hild. 

Social media posts showed exhausted hospital staff trying to find food to eat while working immensely long shifts. “Cafeterias were closed at many hospitals and people were relying on vending machine food to sustain them. Food pantries were also closing temporarily as their volunteers had to stay home and the community dinners they offered were curtailed because of social distancing. The big dialog online was how to help first responders and those with food insecurity,” says Hild. It was when Hild and Pickford were brainstorming that the 200 Foundation approached the inn and gave them a check to help purchase and prepare food for people in need. 

With the initial funds that were donated, Pickford and his hard-working staff immediately sent 50 prime rib dinners to Greater Grace Christian Fellowship in Marlborough after receiving a recommendation from the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce. “It was then that a plan was formulated to continue to send out meals when we raised the funds to purchase food and supplies. Our goal was to prepare nutritious and balanced meals with some of our well-known comfort food, to give people energy and to just spread some happiness in general,” says Hild. Such signature meals included traditional Yankee pot roast made with braised beef and jardiniere sauce; oven roasted breast of turkey served with cornbread, sausage stuffing and giblet gravy; prime rib of beef au jus with whipped potatoes and roasted green beans. 

Hild started researching who could accept food in bulk, but there were many obstacles. “Many hospitals and food pantries couldn’t accept large trays of food, but rather could only accept individually wrapped food. With only a few staffers available on our end, making individual meals was going to be difficult, and given the packaging plan we had going on at the inn for family-style service, we didn’t have the ability to serve individual meals. However, Open Table could take our family-style food since they have large kitchens and refrigerators.” Food could be delivered when it was ready, and Open Table repackaged it on their end and served it when they were ready. It was a win-win for everyone. “It is such a well-run nonprofit, we have enjoyed partnering up with them immensely,” says Hild. 

To keep the momentum going, TWIF not only advertised information about their Meals Donation Program on their website, but they emailed contacts directly and posted it on social media. This gave people the opportunity to donate whatever monetary funds they could spare, and allowed the inn to make meals for those who needed it most. “The response was overwhelmingly positive. We are so grateful for our community’s support. We’ve received donations from out of state, too,” says Hild. Because of the generosity of others, TWIF was able to send out approximately 450 meals. They were able to donate meals to a variety of places, including sending assorted deli subs to the Sudbury Police Department and roast turkey dinners to Emerson Hospital. 

A friend of Hild’s, Sarah Troiano, even ran her own personal Go Fund Me page, so TWIF was able to donate meals to Casa De Ramana Rehabilitation Center in Framingham. She raised funds to support local restaurants and so they could send food to healthcare personnel. “This is what I’m loving the most—people are trying to serve multi-purposes—to help local businesses survive and to feed people who need good food,” says Hild. 

“We’re glad to be able to make menu items that we’re well known for because we feel it provides something particularly special,” says Hild. What makes it even more meaningful is that Pickford himself has done the majority of the deliveries using his truck, even though he has a lot on his own plate. Longfellow would surely approve. 

Although COVID-19 has ravished the country, there are small silver linings that offer hope. The generosity of strangers, the comfort of a meal made with love, the dedication of essential staff and the selfless actions of medical personnel during an uncertain time. People will remember this as an era of face masks and social distancing, and even of fear, but they’ll also remember how local people are rising to meet the challenge.