Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, and while many of us are looking forward to a fat turkey, homemade dressing and creamy mashed potatoes, many D.C.-area seniors are isolated on the holiday and don’t get the feast. One local restauranteur is looking to help thousands of elderly folks for the big day.
Mark Bucher, co-owner of the Medium Rare restaurant group, will step up his Thanksgiving meal delivery in its second year. Last year he sent 3,500 meals and plans on serving at least another 5,000 holiday meals this Thanksgiving.
“Hunger among the elderly often goes overlooked because they’re generally quiet and keep to themselves,” Bucher told WTOP. “(during the pandemic) we learned how systemic this problem was.”
Bucher and Medium Rare will bring free Thanksgiving dinner to the area’s elderly who are either living alone, or don’t have access to meals on Thanksgiving. They’ll be delivering on the Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving
“Thanksgiving is one meal that’s really hard to make for one person. And we didn’t want anyone to go without that meal.”
Bucher said the delivery is not just canned food. It will consist of a fresh turkey breast and “all the trimmings, dressing, stuffing, green vegetable, whipped potatoes, and fresh bread and butter, and of course, gravy and cranberry sauce.”
They will deliver meals anywhere within 30 minutes of downtown D.C.
Area seniors or their friends and family can sign up for a meal delivery at secretsauceme@mediumrarerestaurant.com. Send the name, address and phone number. They will then call to confirm every recipient.
Along with the meal delivery this Thanksgiving, Bucher founded the nonprofit Feed the Fridge just over a year ago. They placed refrigerators around the DMV stocked with free, restaurant-prepared meals for families in need. So far they’ve given out hundreds of thousands of meals.
“Our goal for 2021 is 300,000 meals,” he said.
