Since the 2020 race has been placed on ice, the Trump campaign has used its resources to buy up food from local restaurants to donate to hospital workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since last Thursday, President Trump’s reelection campaign has been calling up local restaurants and ordering large amounts of food to be delivered to more than a dozen hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Washington state and Michigan,” a Fox News exclusive said.
The campaign had been making the orders anonymously until sources confirmed of the charitable operation with Fox News. One source said the effort was to kill two birds with one stone: support local restaurants while supplying medical workers with needed help. The campaign has already spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past few weeks, which they plan to continue to do in the coming days.
“They’re doing it as a donor who cares,” the source told the outlet. “So nothing politically is tied to it. … We’re just trying to, you know, show a thank you.”
“They’re trying to send things that are like, local restaurants that may need support [and] cool restaurant icons of the area that may need the business,” another source said.
As the source said, the orders were indeed placed anonymously, which several establishments confirmed. Giovanni’s Italian Deli in Secaucus, N.J., told the outlet that an anonymous individual placed an order for delivery to Hudson Regional Hospital. It included 40 platters of pasta, salads, and sandwiches.
“They only told us their first name,” a Giovanni’s employee told Fox News. “They called us, and they had us donate meals for the nurses and doctors – an assortment of things, 40 platters of pasta, salads, sandwiches. We’re happy to do it. Trust me.”
Fox News provided more evidence and confirmation of this anonymous charitable giving:
Sources told Fox News that the campaign also ordered from Nick’s Grill in Kirkland, Wash.; Chit Chat Diner in Morristown, N.J.; Turning Point of Long Branch, N.J.; and Antonio’s Trattoria in the Bronx, N.Y., among others.
The manager of Antonio’s Trattoria, in an interview with Fox News, said that a man called the restaurant Monday to have “100 individual orders” delivered to Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.
“It was 20 penne vodkas, 20 pastas with tomato sauce, 30 chicken parmesans, and 30 house salads with grilled chicken,” the manager told Fox News. “He only gave his first name and said he wanted to remain anonymous.”
The Antonio’s Trattoria manager expressed thanks to the Trump campaign for using their business to help workers in need.
While the economy has certainly taken a hit during the pandemic, that does not mean businesses have stepped away from the challenge. In New York, for instance, a pizzeria earned itself free rent at its place of business after the landlord learned that they had donated hundreds of pizzas to hospitals around the city.
“All of the pizza getting made at Sauce Pizzeria – as many as 400 per day – are going straight to hospitals to feed health care workers pulling 14- or even 18-hour shifts as they remain on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight,” reported NBC New York. “Many of those nurses, doctors, and other medical staffers are so swamped helping patients every single day, many don’t have a moment to spare to grab something to eat.”