The Mighty Movement Brings Hope to Local Businesses

MightyMeals has always promoted eating healthy and supported local businesses, so its recent creation of the Mighty Movement should come as no surprise. While a majority of society continues to suffer due to the ongoing pandemic, MightyMeals is doubling its delivery days to meet the demand of healthy meals for the homebound.

The juxtaposition of said increase in demand with a the decline in operating local businesses inspired the founders of MightyMeals to help. The meal kit delivery service has partnered with multiple local restaurants and gyms to help financially support them in a time of need, as well as provide meals to community members and hospital staff.

Through an easy to use database on the website, users can aid local businesses by purchasing a gift card to use at a later date or purchase meals for first responders. During the short time that the Mighty Movement has been active, more than 2,000 meals have been donated to families in the DMV and $15,000 has been raised to feed hospital staff.

Tiffany McCasland, MightyMeals partner and Marketing and Communications manager, knows firsthand how important the program is to small businesses, as she’s also the co-owner of Quincy’s South Bar and Grille. The hope is that gift card sells via the Might Movement will enable participating restaurants to continue paying employees and survive this precarious period.

Quincy’s, like many other restaurants, is keeping their doors open by offering takeout and delivery options, but that’s not possible without community support. When speaking to District Fray on the subject, McCasland emphasized the community aspect of Might Movement and its goals.

“To have something like Covid-19 just close your doors is very hard, but together we are mighty.”

One restaurant that opted instead to close its doors is Arlington’s Bayou Bakery. Head chef and owner David Guas felt it was no longer sustainable for him and his team to continue working on a takeout and delivery basis, so he pivoted to donating meals to the community instead. Every day, a volunteer team prepares meals for children and families in the area affected by Covid-19 with the support of Real Food for Kids and MightyMeals.

Though Guas and the MightyMeals team were not partners prior to the outbreak, current circumstances and a shared mission to help as many families as possible has brought them together. MightyMeals supplements the hot meals Guas’ team provides to families with pre-made meals that can be refrigerated for six days. Guas says the families he regularly interacts with have raved about the pre-made meals, appreciating how fresh and healthy they are.

While he misses being able to interact with customers like he did before, Guas is quickly adapting to his new normal.

“[My work has] morphed into something new; you can’t do the things you love to do the exact way you used to love to do them. The feeling I get from putting 4,000 meals out, so far, is the same feeling I get when a guest comes up to my counter on a normal day and tells me they had the best meal ever.”

As restaurant owners continue to weather the storm, Mighty Movement will continue to be there for them. McCasland is hopeful that community members will continue to show their support for the movement and local businesses through donations and gift card purchases and won’t forget them when this is all over.

“It’s really incredible to see the snowball effect of all of this,” McCasland says.

Follow MightyMeals and Bayou Bakery for updates on their ongoing efforts to feed the community on Instagram at @eatmightymeals and @bayoubakery.