(BALTIMORE) Following the pandemic many local businesses have struggled to adapt and survive during these uncertain times.
One Baltimore City business wanted to not only help restaurants stay open, but also give back to the community.
This is how J.J. Reidy, owner of STEM Farm + Kitchen & Molina Pizza in R. House, started the small business community kitchen. It is an initiative where local community members, businesses, and organizations donate money so the restaurants in R. House can provide free meals to those in the Remington community struggling with food security.
R. House is a food hall that features ten local restaurants all owned by Baltimore entrepreneurs. Reidy needed a way to connect the meals they were making to those that needed them. This is how R. House came to be partnered with the Greater Remington Improvement Association (GRIA) and the Church of the Guardian Angel.
“It's been really cool to see just like regular people, businesses and corporations in the area step up and help out in that way,” said Reidy.
GRIA provides an inclusive forum for discussion of Remington community issues, facilitates resident-led initiatives, connects residents to local resources, and conducts advocacy on neighborhood issues.
People, businesses, and organizations donate money to the community kitchen fund so every other Wednesday one of the restaurants in R. House can prepare meals that are distributed to those who use the Church of the Guardian Angel’s food pantry between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
All the restaurants in R. House are a part of this initiative and they rotate who will receive the money and prepare the meals so every restaurant gets equal funds. They aim to provide 70 meals based on the need in the community.
Reidy said initiatives like this already existed in other parts of Maryland so he wanted to have something for the Remington community.
Steve Holt, the priest at the Church of the Guardian Angel, said it has been helpful for them to be partnered with R. House because they used to offer hot meals but could no longer do so after the pandemic.
“Being able to offer people those hot meals again through the partnership with R. House has really been helpful for us,” said Holt.
The initiative has also helped to bridge the gap between the new and older residents of Remington. Holt said Remington has changed over the last few years and R. House serves the younger, new residents while the food pantry services older residents who have lived in the neighborhood for years.
“We want to bridge that gap and say this is a place for everyone,” said Reidy. “This is something we plan to continue Covid or not, just to have that relationship with the community.”
R. House’s current goal for 2021 is to provide 4000 meals in honor of the food hall being open for four years.
“This is something that should live far beyond Covid. Covid exposed a lot of cracks in our society and a lot of issues like food insecurity and poverty, [that] have always been there but I think [Covid] exacerbated it,” said Reidy.
He hopes this inspires other businesses to create their own initiatives for the communities they serve and have a close connection to.