Staff from a Bristol-based catering company have started cooking for hospital workers after losing their jobs.
Nearly 100 employees of Fosters Events Catering on Feeder Road were furloughed last week - but are now giving up their time to produce, transport and serve more than 300 daily meals for frontline NHS staff at Southmead Hospital.
The initiative, which is being rolled out in collaboration with Food4Heroes, could be extended to other NHS sites in Bristol and the South West in the coming weeks.
Food4Heroes was launched in Yorkshire on Tuesday, March 24 by Amanda Guest of Guest Dining and her brother, John Brownhill, and has now expanded into Bristol.
It was prompted by a heart-wrenching online appeal by NHS worker Dawn Bilborough, who said she was unable to buy food in her local supermarket after completing a 48-hour shift.
So far it has raised over £35k and is asking the general public to raise more much needed funds through public donations on its website.
The new scheme allocates a daily budget of £1.50 per day for food, which means feeding Southmead Hospital alone will cost more than £3,000 a week.
Each additional hospital needs donations along those levels to support the initiative.
CEO of Fosters Events Catering, Neil Lodge, said: "With commercial production kitchens being redundant at the present time, we felt this amazing initiative was just a small way in which Fosters could support and give back to the valued work of so many dedicated NHS workers.
"It creates a positive project that the team at Fosters could focus on during these incredibly challenging times."
Fosters Events Catering caters for a number of well-known venues in and around Bristol including Bath Rugby Club, Bristol Old Vic and Bristol Temple Meads.
Food4Heroes has won the support of Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson and Dr Who's Jodie Whittaker since launching.
To date it has supplied more than 2,400 meals at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and raised £39,042 through donations.
Co-founder Amanda said: "We are absolutely delighted by the response of the business community and local people in Yorkshire and it’s fantastic that Fosters Events Catering is getting involved for the South West.
"Looking ahead we want to roll this out nationally and the early support has been phenomenal!"
