Poppy’s Place Restaurant owner Donna Golio Keenan has been providing meals to hospitals, first responders, food banks and local families in need since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
She is calling on the community to help Poppy’s Place keep up their efforts by donating funds to help cover the costs of food and delivery.
Golio Keenan, assisted by Poppy’s Place chefs, waiters and bartenders as well as her own children who are home from college, has been donating meals to Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital and NYU Winthrop Hospital regularly.
They also bring 20–30 dinners to the food bank operated by Our Lady of Victory on a weekly basis.
Additionally, Poppy’s Place, located in Floral Park, is delivering food to families who are financially in need, or who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 or whose loved one is in the hospital.
For the first six weeks of her efforts, Golio Keenan was funding the donations out of her own pocket, she said.
“But it got kind of expensive. Once I heard that we were going to have to shut down, I just said, ‘well we have all of this food, might as well donate it,’” she explained.
Golio Keenan started a GoFundMe to raise money to allow Poppy’s Place to continue their efforts. Community members who wish to contribute can access the link via the Poppy’s Place website.
She started the GoFundMe two weeks ago. As of Sunday, she has raised $8,375.
Many people want to help out, but do not know what to do, Golio Keenan said. She commented that in her experience, friends and Poppy’s Place patrons have been eager to donate to her cause once they learn about it.
She added that the funds go toward every aspect of her meal donation efforts.
“It’s not only the cost of the food,” she said. “The cost of the wrapping is probably more expensive than the food itself.”
Due to the nature of COVID-19, most food has to be wrapped individually, she explained.
Golio Keenan said that she empathizes with those who are financially struggling due to the coronavirus crisis.
“I’ve lived like this during my lifetime. In this line of business, that’s how it is, paycheck to paycheck, without a lot of backup,” she explained. “So for everyone who’s living like that now—paycheck to paycheck—I know what they’re going through. When the paychecks stop, so does everything else. They don’t have the reserves other people have. So we’re just trying to help whoever we can.”
“So many people have lost their jobs,” she added. “Not everyone got furloughed—a lot of people didn’t have stable work to begin with, and now they have no work.”
Anyone who wishes to donate to the cause can visit the Poppy’s Place website and click “Please Donate Here,” or go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/eating-is-essential?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0wrg2OCgnuhnDMSBo-VKVtXbQCfviht4TagOA1nWodwVp-4j7sC8UkJx0
