Solomon’s Provides Healthy Meals to Sacramento’s Most Vulnerable Communities
In an innovative approach to help prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 among the most vulnerable in Sacramento, Solomon’s and non-profit organization Sacramento Covered partnered to provide healthy and hearty meals for elderly, unsheltered and medically-fragile individuals in our community.
Within 24 hours of shuttering the doors due to the virus, Solomon’s co-founder Andrea Lepore (and our partner in The Food Factory project) enlisted a kitchen crew of four to plan, prep, and cook the meals from scratch. Sacramento Covered’s Community Health Workers deliver the meals to 25 sites daily and to date have distributed approximately 10,000 meals, using ingredients from local farms and purveyors including Reed’s Quality Meats, such as Chicken Curry, Chile Verde, Pasta Bolognese, and Carnitas Burritos.
The Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Metro Edge program highlighted these efforts this month as part of their Business Response Spotlight.
Sacramento Covered’s partners funding the Community Kitchen include Dignity Health, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, UC Davis Health System, The California Endowment, and Union Pacific, all contributing to the hard costs of food and labor to prepare the meals.
Solomon’s honors Tower Records and local founder Russ Solomon and the first location was a historic preservation project and created a community gathering place where music and culture is celebrated and everyone is welcome.
Andrea Lepore is Principal of Lepore Development, Co-Founder of Solomon’s Deli in downtown Sacramento, and a Valley Vision collaborator.
