PRWA Spring Thaw Flash Campaign

The snow is melting! As we welcome Spring, with a fresh optimism for warm and safe outdoor dining and vaccinations on the horizon, our efforts to help our hospitality community continue.

An end to this crisis and a path to the recovery of our industry feels so close, but while we wait for the end of the pandemic, so many folks in our industry are facing ever increasing economic strain. Promised government assistance, such as extended unemploymnet programs and rent relief, are inconsistant, insufficient, or inaccesable to so many workers as we struggle with shuttered workpalces, cut shifts, and decreased income. An estimated 70% of hospitality professionals are still facing unemployment or partial employment, even as other industries have been able to operate remotely or return to business. Those of us who do have work face major health risks as we confront unmasked diners and tightly packed workspaces that make safe social distancing impossible.

We need your help, now as much as ever!

As we reach the One Year Anniversary of COVID-19's impact on our community, please donate to support the PRWA Distribution Center. With a generous Match Campaign from IOBY, every donation up to $500 will be doubled, allowing us to quickly generate funds to directly assist our community memebers in this time of need. Donations will directly support the daily operations of our Distribution Center and allow us to purchase groceries, diapers, pet food, and household goods for our Care Packages.

Our Distribution Center has been operating since day one of COVID-19 restrictions, as we found a great and immediate need for basic resources. In an industry with notoriously low wages and little workplace protections, even one missed shift can throw a household into crisis. Our community stepped up, with workers donating groceries, funds, and volunteer hours to help one another. As the COVID crisis continued, our hospitality community was quickly strapped, and we realized we would need to get organized and seek support, from our greater community and through foundations and grants, in order to expand to fill such a huge need.

Since then, with the help of our generous donors and amazing volunteers, we have established our Distribution Center and distributed an average of over 100 care packages to folks in need every week. With our ability to deliver items directly to people's doorsteps, we are able to help so many folks who are not easily able to leave their homes, due to lack of safe transportation, health concerns, and childcare and family obligations.

Economic stability, and access to secure housing, food, healthcare, and childcare, have been issues for hospitality workers since the industry was formed, but this pandemic has been especially devastating to a community already facing hardships. While restaurant and bar restrictions are necessary to public health, workers in our industry have born the economic brunt of this without support. So many government programs have been inaccessible or insufficient, as our underresourced unemployment system buckled and crashed, and government rent relief funds were never made widely available. Nearly a year into this crisis, many households are still in freefall with no safety net. While we can not fill the immense needs of our community, we can help by using our skills as hospitality professionals to organize resource distribution, offer advocacy, and fill a small part of the gap. Our work will continue until everyone in our industry is equitably and safely employed, and has access to the resources they need to not only survive, but thrive.