This time of the year, there is a kindness movement that almost everyone joins. It may be the magic of the season. At the same time, we are more food-focused with traditional recipe customs and creations that warm the heart as well. In virtually every restaurant kitchen, this spirit exists all year long. Most of the time, we don’t hear about those efforts and gifts that chefs and restaurateurs provide to their communities unless the circumstances make the news.
At Gracie’s in Providence and its sibling restaurant Ellie’s, in a program called Warm-A-Heart, a team of bakers spends hours during the holiday season creating thousands of gingerbread people that will become part of beautifully boxed kits containing the gingerbread, candies and icing – everything needed to create a wonderful treat and memories. Ellie’s and Gracie’s donate all the labor, ingredients and materials for the kits, which are for sale at The Miriam Hospital cafeteria and other Lifespan Corp. facilities. They are also available at Dave’s Fresh Marketplace stores. Since 2009 when restaurateur Ellen Slattery, owner of Gracie’s and Ellie’s, began this program, nearly 17,000 kits have been produced. The proceeds benefit Rhode Island families in need through organizations including Family Services of Rhode Island, Mount Hope Learning Center, Camp Street Community Ministries and the Lifespan Cancer Institute, among others. “[From] the simplicity of a gingerbread cookie … it makes everyone involved feel good inside to see from start to finish the impact that this program has,” Slattery said.
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HOLIDAY HELPERS: Volunteers assemble hundreds of Warm-A-Heart Gingerbread kits, which are sold at Lifespan health care facilities and Dave’s Fresh Marketplace stores. The proceeds go to nonprofits assisting families in need. / COURTESY GRACIE’S[/caption]
Children’s Friend, Rhode Island’s oldest child-welfare organization, serves more than 30,000 of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children and their families each year. For most of the past two decades, Children’s Friend has partnered in its annual Spirit of Giving Holiday Drive with Howley Bread Group Ltd., which is the franchise owner of the Panera Bread outlets in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Each café has a “giving tree” or a similar place containing information or a wish list from families served by Children’s Friend. There is an opportunity to sponsor a family during the drive. Also, each day throughout the year, each Howley/Panera café’s management and staff give to Children’s Friend whatever bread and similar items that were not sold that day. Other Panera cafes also have such a program, known as Dough-nation.
Newport restaurateur Richard Sardella took the lead with his restaurant in the donation drive to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Center Thanksgiving family food drive. Sardella’s Ristorante provided 180 turkeys this year. A vendor of the restaurant, PFG Food Group of Springfield, Mass., donated an additional 40 turkeys. This is the ninth consecutive year that the restaurant has taken part in the program.
Sardella and PFG weren’t the only ones involved. When word spread in Newport that the need this year would be greater than ever, individuals and businesses stepped up. One business leader donated hundreds of boxes of stuffing mix. Another arranged for a food truck to serve hot soup on a cold night one week before Thanksgiving. And more than 500 turkeys were provided. n
Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” radio talk show is heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 1540 AM WADK, through various mobile applications and on his podcast. Email Bruce at Bruce@brucenewbury.com.
