Leadership Washington County supports hospital, business community
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Food is prepared for Leadership Washington County’s donation drive.
Canonsburg police officer Dennis Cole and Rusty Gold Brewing owner E.J. Kleckner pose for a picture.
Meatball hoagies are prepared for Leadership Washington County’s donation drive.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Leadership Washington County launched a donation drive that is making a duel impact by supporting local eateries as well as keeping hospital staff and first responders fed during the pandemic.
Feed the Fight, Washington County, held an online donation drive in which 100% of the donations received, minus credit card transaction fees, were used to provide individual meals or gift cards, from locally owned restaurants, to feed employees at Washington County Fire Stations, local police stations, EMS Providers and frontline workers at county hospitals.
“Now more than ever, we need to support our community, especially those on the frontlines of fighting this virus, and fighting tirelessly for lives in Washington County,” says Bob Rak, president of the LWC’s board. Feed the Fight has worked with its business partners to achieve their goal to ensure “our county’s health care and first responders will have one less thing to worry about – their meals,” said Rak.
To date, LWC has received over $10,000 in donations, including a $5,000 one-to-one matching grant from the Washington County Community Foundation’s Close-to-Home Disaster and Emergency Fund. Starting with a small portion of the money, LWC fed 16 police, fire and EMS stations and has supported 16 different local restaurants in the county. LWC will continue to coordinate and disperse the remaining funds to local restaurants and provide meals to the hospitals and the remaining first responder stations throughout May.
For more information about LWC, or about the Feed the Fight program, visit www.palwc.org. The organization is currently taking applications for the 2020-21 class starting in September. Visit its website for more information.