1M restaurant meals provided in Vermont pandemic program

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says a program started during the pandemic to provide restaurant meals to Vermonters experiencing food insecurity has served 1 million meals.

The Everyone Eats program was launched back in August and uses local restaurants and local food systems to get meals out to those that need them. Over 200 restaurants are participating and have used over $1 million in Vermont-produced ingredients. The meals also represent over $10 million in revenue for the restaurants participating.

Jean Hamilton, the program’s statewide coordinator, says this past year was a whirlwind but the effort has been a morale boost. “From everyone that participates, is how meaningful this program has been for them, whether it’s volunteering or making meals or picking up meals. Just to know there is someone in their community that cares or needs help. And so to have something that can pull us together and show us how stronger we are together when we are helping one another has been just an indescribable impact,” she said.

Hamilton says going forward, the relationships built between businesses and communities will hopefully stick around. One of their goals was long-term resiliency, and they believe they accomplished that so far.