Take Out Hunger pays restaurants to cook for food insecure

By: Hadley Barndollar, Portsmouth Herald

PORTSMOUTH – As dusk fell on Wednesday evening and a bitter chill covered the Seacoast, one by one, individuals sporadically arrived on foot at the parking lot of the Greenleaf Recreation Center. 
They waited patiently outside, in front of a table spread with plastic forks, napkins and a large insulated hot food carrier. 
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Through the glass doors of the recreation center, Tammy Joslyn, executive director of nonprofit Operation Blessing, would see them, and quickly come outside to serve them a hot meal.

This week's offering was baked chicken, rice, mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes and onions, courtesy of White Heron Coffee and Tea, from their second, and new, cafe location in Eliot, Maine.
The meal distribution, which is scheduled to feed homeless individuals on Wednesday nights at the Greenleaf Recreation Center, is part of a new Seacoast-wide funding initiative called Take Out Hunger.

The organization essentially pays restaurants to cook meals for the food insecure, vulnerable individuals, or places where a need is identified – helping to keep the restaurants afloat financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, while simultaneously addressing the growing issue of hunger.

Click here to read the full article on fosters.com.