St. Paul hospitality workers provide free meals to those on front lines of pandemic

Morrissey Hospitality’s free meal program, Feeding the Front Line, is helping first responders and health care workers across St. Paul and Ramsey County.

The program started at the St. Paul Hotel a few weeks ago, but because of high demand, organizers moved it to the St. Paul Rivercentre.

“It kind of grew too big. We had to move that over to this operation where, as you can see, the kitchen is really big. There is a lot of space for social distancing amongst us that are working and for everyone picking up,” said Lance Kapps, Morrissey Hospitality's corporate chef.

Kapps says with the help of donations from vendors across the area, about 600 meals will be offered each day.

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First responders and health care workers can grab the meals to go. They text in an order, and their food will be ready for pick-up within two hours.

“It's great to see firefighters, police come in. You know they are working long shifts, you know they are either on their way home or they are on their way in," Kapps said. "We are very busy around that noon time and very busy around dinner time. They are just very appreciative…very thankful."

The program runs through Monday, May 4. Meals will be offered seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Interested participants can place an order each day by texting 612-900-5145 with their name, employer and the number of needed meals.

Due to resources and food supply currently, eligible participants are downtown St. Paul first responders, Ramsey County first responders and downtown St. Paul front-line health care workers.