NYC Free Meals
With the economic crisis taking a toll on New York City’s thousands of restaurants and tens of thousands of food workers, citizens of the Big Apple are implementing innovative strategies to provide meals to those in need and, when possible, preserve neighborhood eateries.
Forbes reports on a new initiative called HONoR (Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants) which is promoting ways to preserve culturally significant restaurants in NYC and save hundreds or thousands of jobs.
Each week, HONoR highlights great, independently-owned restaurants in neighborhoods across all five New York boroughs. They agree to a stringent sanitary code (see FAQ). You order in delivery or take-out, with gusto. Make this an extra splurge, rather than take business from a different restaurant. Order directly, rather than let a middleman take a 30-plus percent cut. And tip generously while you’re at it.
– helpourneighborhoodrestaurants.com
To view the current HONoR-certified establishments, click HERE and scroll down to the listings which are organized by neighborhood.
In addition to acting as an eatery promoter, HONoR has partnered with Brooklyn Nets All-Star Kyrie Irving and food company Beyond Meat to provide up to 250,000 plant-based burgers to the Food Bank for New York City. Each time someone orders from an HONoR restaurant, one burger is donated.
Also in NYC, a variety of establishments are offering free or affordable meals to those out of work. A Timeout report cites numerous restaurants around the city that have made this altruistic act their mission. These include:
- Williamsburg’s Donna: just say the password “high spirits” and they will provide a meal from their to-go window;
- Greenpoint’s Baoburg is offering “survival meals,” where cash-only pick-up dishes are priced at an affordable $5.
- Chinatown’s Golden Diner has begun to offer what they’re calling, their “Happy Meals,” $7 versions of entrees which normally cost more than twice that price.
- Prospect Heights’s Olmsted has transformed its fine-dining locale into a food bank, offering free meals and essentials.
- Humanitarian chef José Andrés will repurpose his sprawling Hudson Yards food hall, Mercado Little Spain, into a to-go-only “community kitchen,” offering meals as low as $2.
- In Crown Heights, The Bergen will offer free bagged lunches and dinners out of its casual to-go spot.
Finally, Gothamist reports that the NY Department of Education is offering free grab-and-go meals to anyone of any age who needs one, no questions asked. Previously, this service was only available to children 18 and younger.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available at 435 pickup spots around the five boroughs. Click HERE to find a free meal location.
The hours for families and children to pick up their meals are from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and adults from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The DOE says no one will be turned away if they come outside of their designated times.