Non-profit Helping Support Princeton Restaurants During Pandemic

Share My Meals is a non-profit organization started by Isabelle Lambotte to help fight food insecurity in the Princeton area. When the Coronavirus pandemic began, Share My Meals had to adjust in order to accommodate the increase in families they helped.

The charity began in January and their goal was to take any surplus of food from large corporations, schools and universities so that they could donate the excess food instead of throwing it away. Because of this, Share My Meals could donate about 100 meals per week to 15 different families in need.

Lambotte said that numbers had to quickly rise due to how many people were laid off of their jobs due to the pandemic. According to Yahoo News, the number went from 100 meals a week to somewhere around 300.

Because schools were closed, they were worried about where to find food to feed these families. Luckily, local restaurants contacted Share My Meals to cook for free instead of throwing out the extra food they had due to the sudden shutdown. According to Yahoo News, the restaurants included The Meeting House, La Mezzaluna, and Trattoria Procaccini.

Share My Meals did not stop there. They began raising funds to pay a salary for restaurant employees to cook for the charity. Because of that, they were able to feed the families in need, but also provide jobs to people who would have been laid off otherwise.

Lambotte estimates that the charity has served over 20,000 meals since the start in January. They are actively fundraising on their website.