“Save A Seat” Campaign helping to end hunger in Maryland

For most people, a normal day consists of waking up, having breakfast, heading to work and then back home for dinner. But the truth is, according to the Maryland Food Bank of the Eastern Shore, here on Delmarva there are thousands of people suffering from food insecurity.

Since 1981 the Maryland Food Bank of the Eastern Shore has been working closely with multiple food pantries, farmers, soup kitchens and homeless organizations and more. Their main goal: to end hunger in Maryland. That's where their latest initiative the "Save a Seat" campaign comes in.

47 ABC spoke to Managing Director Jennifer Small and she says, "Right now what we're looking at is about 46,000 of our eastern shore residents are food insecure which means they're not sure where their next meal is coming from, of that number about 16,000 are children, so that's one in four children going to bed at night not knowing when they're going to have their next meal. Maryland is one of the wealthiest states and three of those counties reside here that are really trying to battle the need of hunger." 

The three counties that suffer the most, Dorchester, Somerset and Wicomico. That's why they are looking to restaurants in the area for help.

Small tells 47 ABC, "By working with the Save a Seat promotion were asking restaurants to raise an awareness of hunger and help to support the need."

Until April 15th, five restaurants on Delmarva are offering specials and promotions to benefit the food bank. One is Fratelli's in Salisbury.

Owner George Sakellis tells 47 ABC, "We decided that on our busiest night, which is every Tuesday, during our crab cake special we would give a portion of our proceeds back to fight hunger on the shore. The community has been very good to us and we are happy to give back."

And it's donations like these that Small says can make a world of difference to a family struggling right now. Small tells 47 ABC, "Through Save a Seat and other resources we can help to provide more meals put food on the table and allow them to stretch a resource that can enable them to pay their mortgage, get their prescriptions."

Joining Fratellis are the Public House in Salisbury and Touch of Italy, Bayside Skillet and Hooked in Ocean City. Check with the individual restaurant for their particular promotion.