As nurses, doctors and other hospital staff work on the frontlines in the midst of the public health crisis, Gina Semeraro decided to help by providing a simple need for the staff: food.
She began arranging meals with local restaurants three weeks ago and has delivered around 600 meals so far. At first, restaurants were donating the meals. After people in the community reached out to donate money, Semeraro told them to send money to particular restaurants that were donating meals to cover the cost of the food.
Semeraro, a Kensington resident, worked as an emergency room nurse at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda for 13 years. There were constant hazmat drills and training for the worst health scenarios — much like the coronavirus pandemic that keeps spreading across the state.
Semeraro doesn’t work there anymore, but hears stories from former coworkers about the discomfort of constantly wearing masks and other personal protective equipment . They’re hot and feel confined, and there’s “nothing glamorous” about wearing the equipment, Semeraro said. The emergency room staff are tough and care about their work though, she said.
“I know that it’s got to be stressful. So however bad I think it is, I’m sure it’s times 100 of what I’m going through,” he said of the hospital nurses.
“I wanted it to raise awareness. The staff on the frontline is suffering and you have no idea how bad it is for them,” she said. “[Organizing and delivering the meals] has turned into a full-time job even though it’s just volunteer work.”
She delivers meals herself around five times a week. Each time, the meals can feed about 40 members of the hospital staff. Sandwiches, roast chicken, barbecue, macaroni and cheese, coffee, paella, and more have been on the menu from 10 restaurants.
“You have to give. … Everybody needs to pitch in and do their part and it won’t be as stressful,” Semeraro said. “It’s important for [the hospital staff] to know that we’re thinking of them. We appreciate what they’re doing and we respect what they’re doing.”
Amy Shaw, a spokeswoman for Suburban, said meals, cards sent to the staff, and community donations have been useful and encouraging.
The community has also shown support by writing thankful messages in chalk on the sidewalks outside Suburban and leaving donations with handwritten notes. On March 29, a group of up to 50 people, standing safely apart, held signs, rang cowbells and cheered the staff outside the hospital.
“I think people want to feel connected. They want to feel useful,” Shaw said of the notes and signs. “It really is something that’s needed and is effective.”
In an email on Friday to Bethesda Beat, Shaw wrote that a “bagel drop” happens about twice a week. Karen and Ethan Leder fill their vehicle with bagels from the Call Your Mother deli and take them to the hospital. They “literally pack an SUV full of 1,000 bagels — the bags go all the way to the ceiling of the car,” Shaw wrote.
Rachel Scherr and Tallulah Dropkin, friends and neighbors living in Rockville, started organizing meals for Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring about a week ago.
“When this whole thing started, I think everybody started feeling helpless and we were told to stay inside,” Scherr said. “We came up with this idea as a way to help from inside our homes.”
Scherr and Dropkin started sharing a GoFundMe link in several community groups on social media to encourage people to donate money for meals for the Holy Cross staff.
“This seems like a way to benefit two efforts in our community and we’re able to use the donations to help the local restaurants, and the local restaurants provide meals to the hospital staff,” Scherr said.
The two women have raised enough money to purchase meals to feed 75 people every weekday until April 24. So far, they’ve delivered 285 meals and raised more than $20,000 from nearly 400 donors.
Dropkin said around eight other people have volunteered to help organize the meals with restaurants.
“We will do this as long as the generosity of the community allows us to do it,” she said. “It would be wonderful if we could keep it going for as long as possible.”
Scherr said the effort has been a way to work together during a quarantine.
“When we’re all supposed to be separated, it’s a way to bring us all together,” she said. “It’s just a really nice way for our community to come together to help each other.”
Here are a few ways to send a meal or encouragement to hospital staff:
Notes and pictures to the hospital staff at Holy Cross Health hospitals can be sent to the hospitals’ Facebook pages or by mail to:
Kristin Feliciano
Holy Cross Health
1500 Forest Glen Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Make a donation for meals for hospital staff at Holy Cross through a community GoFundMe here.
Coordinate a donation for meals at Suburban by emailing Semeraro at rnginas@gmail.com.
Briana Adhikusuma can be reached at briana.adhikusuma@moco360.media.
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To see a timeline of major coronavirus developments in Maryland and Montgomery County, click here.
