Pepe Martinez, owner of Stars Café, loaded up the first delivery for the Shelter Island Action Alliance on Sunday morning — breakfast for 30 hospital staffers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Alliance co-creator Brett Surerus showed up a 7AM to transport the ready-to-eat meals to Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport.
The new nonprofit entity is gathering donations for two purposes: help keep Island restaurants afloat during new coronavirus restrictions and help feed medical staff and other personnel in our area hospitals.
Martinez and cook Benjamin Reyes worked the grill in the early hours of Sunday, prepping burritos, wrapping them and placing in a container to keep them warm during transport.
Surerus says the Shelter Island Action Alliance, which launched earlier this week, has already received $5,000 in donations. A network of volunteers coordinates orders from ELIH and Southampton Hospital, both part of the Stony Brook Medicine network.
To volunteer or learn more, contact shelter.island.action.alliance@gmail.com.
To donate, send funds in any amount using Venmo to @shelterisland-actionalliance.
You can also make a tax-deductible donation via the Shelter Island Lions Club. Donate online at shelterislandlions.org/action-alliance/.
Or, send a check with SI Action Alliance in the memo line to Shelter Island Lions Foundation, PO Box 760, Shelter Island, NY 11964.
