Pernod Ricard in Australia has extended the reach of its Meals for Mates initiative with the donation of 8,333 meals to impacted hospitality workers in Melbourne and surrounds.
Following the increased lockdown levels in Victoria, hospitality staff across bars, pubs, cafes, restaurants and clubs are continuing to try to cope with unemployment or reduced hours.
Meals for Mates has donated $25,000 to CoVid-19 E.A.D (Employee Assistance Directive), which has an army of volunteers that cook, pack and deliver free meals to unemployed hospitality workers within a 20km radius of the Melbourne CBD.
Hospitality workers in Melbourne and surrounds needing meal support simply need to go to the Covid-19 E.A.D website (http://covid19ead.com.au/) and fill in their details.
CoVid-19 E.A.D Co-Founder Henry Le said the donation from Meals for Mates could not have come at a better time.
“We’ve already seen an increase in demand for meals as hospitality workers continue to face an uncertain employment and income future with the strict lockdown laws. We started this as a couple of bar owners who just wanted to make sure our own team members got fed during the first lockdown in Melbourne, but realised quickly that an outreach program to raise the spirits of unemployed hospitality professionals through chef-cooked, quality meals was needed,” Henry said.
Eric Thomson, Pernod Ricard Winemakers Director, said: “Our team was looking to do more for the people in the hospitality industry that make it the success that it is, and to be able to partner with CoVid-19 E.A.D through this donation felt like a positive step to assisting particularly Victorians who have been dealt a serious blow in the past few weeks.”
Meals for Mates was launched by Pernod Ricard in Australia in March 2020 and then in New Zealand in May. To date ‘Meals for Mates’ has committed more than $175,000 to help to deliver meals to hospitality professionals impacted by Covid-19 across the Tasman.