Rice Village launches meal campaign to help frontline health care workers

Rice Village has started a meal donation campaign aimed at feeding frontline healthcare workers at Texas Medical Center as they help combat COVID-19, Rice Management Company announced April 15.

The FARE for CARE campaign will begin April 16, with an initial phase spanning 14 days. The management company has donated $50,000 towards a minimum of 5,000 meals, and will match community donations for at least another 5,000 meals, up to 15,000 meals total, with the potential for further expansion. Other costs to the campaign are being handled separately, said Cecilia Arreola, Rice Management Company Investment Manager.

The campaign will aim at helping day and night shifts for Emergency Room and Critical Care teams at St. Luke’s Health, Houston Methodist Hospital, and Memorial Hermann—Texas Medical Center, according to the release.

“Rice Village is an essential part of the community,” Arreola said. “It’s been entrenched in the community for so long and so we want to have a bigger impact, and this is a great way to do that.”

Every dollar donated by the management company goes to ingredients and meal production for Rice Village’s restaurants including Politan Row, Mendocino Farms, Sixty Vines, and Sweetgreen that have taken up the call for the meal campaign, according to the news release.

“This challenging time helps chefs remember how much they love cooking, and they’re just so happy to be back in the kitchen,” said Will Donaldson, CEO and founder of Politan Group, in the news release. “All of the funds from FARE for CARE are passing through directly to the chefs, and Politan Row is delighted to have the chance to support them in getting their businesses back on their feet.”