Sally’s Fund teamed up with Lindsay Smith-Rosales, chef and co-owner of Nirvana Grille to deliver 130 Easter dinners to low-income senior citizens last weekend.
After an introduction by Mayor Bob Whalen, Sally’s Fund hired Nirvana Grille to cook the meals that were delivered by its executive director Rachael Berger and Jason Pastore. Berger sent out a request for donations to fund the Easter Dinner, which raised $3,750 from more than a dozen households.
The two-course meal included a turkey, ham, or chicken entrée, mashed Yukon potatoes, green beans with herb butter, fresh baked baguette, and dessert.
“What a great community that saw the need, wanted to do something good, and donated so we could do this,” Berger said. “It was amazing that Lindsay was able to put together the meals.”
Berger added that she heard thank you’s from seniors forgetting about them on Easter weekend.
Smith-Rosales said the offer to help feed Laguna Beach seniors was a no-brainer, considering how the community has supported her restaurant through this challenging time.
“We get to continue doing what we love but also help them,” she said.
Amid the daily hustle, it’s easy for people to forget about elderly family members who are home alone and may not see someone in-person everyday, Smith-Rosales said. She hopes her meals made the seniors feel like they weren’t entirely alone on the holiday.
“They must be feeling like they’re alone and that must be really scary and really isolating them,” she said.
In a typical year, Sally’s Fund makes over 7,000 trips for our local Laguna Beach seniors, transporting and escorting them to medical appointments, grocery shopping, running errands and doing wellness checks, Berger said in a statement.
“Many of the people we serve have disabilities due to old age, are low income without family nearby to assist, and have increased anxiety and fear as a result of COVID-19,” Berger said.
In the near future, Nirvana Grille and Sally’s Fund would like to see their collaboration grow to service Orange County hospital and healthcare workers, police and other first responders with regular meal deliveries. Nirvana Grille has added donation buttons to its online platform where people can donate to this effort.
Sally’s Fund has committed to continue delivering at least 100 bags of groceries each week including necessities like toilet paper and masks.
To support the Nirvana Grille Co-op or donate to future meals for seniors and first responders visit nirvanagrille.com.
To donate to Sally’s Fund visit sallysfund.org.
