Guy Fieri is finally getting the appreciation he deserves. I feel like people didn’t really take him seriously for a long time because he’s so delightfully out there, but recently everyone is starting to realize that hey, going to Flavortown is pretty sweet. Plus, Fieri is doing some pretty meaningful things out there in the food world, like raising nearly $25 million for restaurant workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- To be fair, this wasn’t a one-man job. Fieri teamed up with the National Restaurant Association to create the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund to get cash to the people in the industry who really need it. After all, the pandemic meant that so many restaurants around the country have been closed, meaning a lot of people were out of vital wages they needed to support themselves and their families. This fund makes a major difference in their lives.
- Recipients of RERF grants got $500 each. With Guy Fieri teaming up with businesses and other organizations, roughly $25 million has been raised and 43,000 restaurant employees were given $500 each to help them survive during this tough time. It may not be enough to pay all their bills, but any little bit helps during these tough times. About 60% of the recipients were said to be women and 50% were people of color.
- These grants were a major lifeline to employees in need. “You know, so many people work in the restaurant industry in multiple jobs, second jobs, single moms, single parents, students, retirees. And the restaurant industry is massively important to our communities,” Fieri told CBS. “And so, when I saw this coming, I said, ‘We got to do something to get some money to these folks.'”
- While working on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Fieri has been thanked by the people he’s helped. “As I was leaving the ‘Triple D’ location, getting in the car to go to the next ‘Triple D’ location, this young manager came out from the restaurant. She came to me and said, ‘You know, I got the money.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s so awesome.’ She said, ‘The money was great, but it was just awesome to know that people I don’t even know care about how I’m doing,'” he recalled to CBS. “And I was like, ‘Man, that’s the whole reason we did this.'”
