Creative Solutions

Restaurants across Aggieland are helping their community by making meals for first-responders, the elderly and people in need as the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate the economy.

And the grassroots initiative Brazos Feed It Forward is doing this as its own small businesses face financial hardship amid the economic shutdown and ongoing restrictions.

BCS Local Flavor — a group of more than 25 locally-owned independent restaurants — started providing food for front-line workers in mid-March. Around the same time, Bryan-College Station business owner Hugh Stearns was raising money to provide similar support. The two merged into a single community-focus group, and what transpired is a cycle of benevolence that benefits the entire community.

The donations brought in from private and public supporters help fund the prepared meals.

As of May 4, Brazos Feed It Forward has delivered 6,200 meals to frontline workers, including Bryan, College Station and Brazos County law enforcement and fire agencies, as well as the Brazos Valley Food Bank, local Salvation Army and United Way staffs. The organization continues to take requests for meals.

Roughly 2,400 meals will go to CHI St. Joseph Health locations in Bryan and College Station this week alone.

Stearns said that providing nourishment to front line workers is a way to show gratitude and hope by feeding both their body and spirit.

“In the midst of struggling to save their businesses, the restaurants of BCS Local Flavor were also thinking about how they could serve their community,” he said. “With a single donation we can support our local restaurants and other front-line workers like nurses, doctors and grocery store workers.”

Brazos Feed It Forward is partnering with The Bubba Moore Foundation, a long-standing nonprofit community partner, to ensure donor confidence with transparency and fiscal accountability. They also have partnerships with both Baylor Scott & White and CHI St. Joseph Health, other local food providers and government agencies.

Organizers said that donations will be processed through the Bubba Moore Memorial Group. All donations are tax deductible.

Wade Beckman, owner of Amico Nave and Shipwreck Grill, said the effort provides a means for the community as a whole to connect and support the important work being done, while also giving support to locally-owned restaurants and their staff.

And, in turn, that stimulates the economy.

“​My prayers are that this crisis never reaches the point of truly having a large number of people that are in need of basic food,” Beckman said. “However, I am passionate about helping as many folks that need it financially, as well as folks that are in the clinics and hospitals.”

The following restaurants are participating in the Brazos Feed It Forward program:

• 3rd on Main
• All the King’s Men
• Amico Nave
• Blue Baker
• C&J Barbeque
• Casa Rodriguez
• Chicken Oil Company
• Dixie Chicken
• Fargos Pit BBQ
• Harvey Washbangers
• Hullabaloo Diner
• J. Cody’s Steaks & BBQ
• Kolache Capital Bakery & Cafe
• MAD Taco
• Madden’s
• Nam Cafe
• Northgate Juice Joint
• Ronin
• Rx Pizza
• Shipwreck Grill
• Smitty K’s
• Stella Southern Cafe
• The Proudest Monkey
• The Village Cafe
• Urban Table
• Veritas Wine & Bistro

To donate, please visit the Brazos Feed it Forward website.

Here’s how you can help Support Aggieland: Show your appreciation to those who keep our community strong, uplifted and moving forward. Spread the word. Tell your friends and neighbors about the initiative. Visit @TAMUbrand on Instagram and Twitter for updates and more. Check back with this site to discover more ways our community is helping the cause.