Back in early April, on a cool spring day, Steve Sachse and his family loaded up a SUV filled with chicken cacciatore and chicken piccata from Liberatore’s in Timonium. The boxes of hot meals were headed for health care workers at St. Joseph Medical Center.
“[Liberatore's] were real excited. They did a great job, they gave all kinds of Italian food,” said Sachse.
That would be the start of the Sachse family’s new charity Hungry Helpers, which came about after Steve saw a segment on the news about communities coming together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You get so bored sitting at home and I said boy, I’d love to be able to do something.”
He recruited his adult children to help him get the idea off the ground. His daughter Keegan Biondino got to work on the Facebook page and in 24 hours they raised $2,000.
“I was thinking $500, maybe do a round at St. Joe’s or GBMC. Now we’ve been able to do three hospital runs, five runs with Head Start,” said Biondino. “It’s been super overwhelming but awesome watching the community come together.”
Hungry Helpers made a couple runs to GBMC, using donations to purchase meals from Pepe’s Catering to give to employees at the medical center.
“The community has been very generous and the staff, I can’t tell you how grateful they are,” said Carolyn Candiello, the Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety at GBMC.
“They’re all working hard, they’re in their PPE for 12 hours a day, and to have something like this where they don’t have to prepare it at home or go to the cafeteria, it means a lot.”
In addition to hospitals, Hungry Helpers has also donated funds to the Union Baptist Head Start program in West Baltimore so the organization can continue to buy food to feed children who rely on them for daily meals.
“I keep thinking what we’re doing is nothing, what they’re doing day in and day out is unbelievable,” said Sachse. “It does make you feel good you can be a little part of it.”
As long as donations continue to come in, the Sachse family will continue to run Hungry Helpers by supporting local restaurants to thank healthcare workers and find new ways to bring brightness to these darker times.
“We would love to really just keep going. I know it’s tough but this is a good cause and the people really enjoy it,” said Sachse.
“We appreciate everyone’s support, any amount is awesome,” said Biondino.
If you would like to donate to Hungry Helpers, you can send them a donation via Venmo to Hungry-Helpers (don't forget the hyphen!) or go to their GoFundMe page.
