Guy Fieri Signed & Delivered 1,200 Lunches To First Responders
If anyone deserves an immediate trip to Flavortown, it’s every first responder — so Guy Fieri is delivering
Guy Fieri is doing more than just playing Animal Crossing during the coronavirus pandemic — he’s also giving back anywhere he can. Earlier this week, the celebrity chef loaded up his 48-foot Stagecoach Smokehouse mobile kitchen with family and friends and parked it at California’s Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital to hand out lunches for first responders.
Together, Fieri and his entourage gave away 1,200 meals. But he didn’t stop at that unbelievably kind gesture — he also wrote a personal note of thanks and autographed each and every box for the doctors and other medical professionals he served that day.
And while Fieri was only personally handing out lunches at one hospital, he also sent deliveries of the boxed lunches — which included pulled pork, pasta with veggies, Caesar salad and focaccia with caramelized onion and Parmesan, yum — to two other area hospitals, Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.
“So we have so many amazing frontline healthcare workers that are putting their lives on the line to support our community as they always do, but now it’s even more severe,” Fieri said in a video shared by the Press Democrat, speaking from behind his camouflage mask as he continued to busily pack and sign lunch boxes. “It’s just a way to come and say thank you.”
He continued, “I got all kinds of friends and business owners that are here in the trailer. We’re gonna do about 1,200 meals today and these folks are amazing. We should all be singing their praises.”
“You guys are just warriors,” Fieri told one doctor as he came to collect a box. “You do this day and night.”
This is far from the first time Fieri has used his fame, platform, and resources to help others during the coronavirus pandemic. In March, he partnered with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to launch the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, aiming to raise money to help restaurant workers who have lost their jobs during the shutdown. He’s raised more than $20 million for the fund, and 100 percent of it goes to affected restaurant workers in the form of grants to help them cover their bills.
“My entire career has been in the restaurant business. From bussing tables to flambe captain to dishwasher to chef… I’ve done it all,” Fieri said when announcing the fund. “I’ve also spent the better part of the last 15 years traveling this great country meeting other folks who’ve dedicated their lives to this business and let me tell you something, they are the hardest working, most real deal workers you’ve ever met… the heartbeats of their communities. But they need our help and with Restaurant Relief America, we can serve up some support when these restaurant employees need it most… right now.”
Fieri also recently announced that he plans to face off against Bill Murray in a nacho cook-off event to raise even more money for charity.
