Local Chef Edward Lee is organizing a relief effort for restaranut workers. Accorsing to the Courier-Journal, The LEE Initiative, in partnership with Maker’s Mark and Lee’s restaurant 610 Magnolia at 610 W. Magnolia Ave., is becoming a relief center for any restaurant worker who has been laid off or had a significant reduction in hours.
Here are some additional national resources that also apply to service employees in Kentucky and Indiana impacted by restaurant closures:
- One Fair Wage has launched an emergency fund to support tipped workers by providing emergency cash to those impacted. The organization hopes to give each worker $213, a nod to the federal minimum wage for tipped workers. Eligible workers are being screened in phone interviews.
- The Restaurant Worker’s Community Foundation has formed a COVID-19 Crisis Relief Fund for restaurant workers, providing funds to organizations doing on-the-ground assistance.
- The USBG National Charity Foundation has launched a Bartender Emergency Assistance Program available to bartenders and spouses and children of bartenders.
- The National Restaurant Association has a coronavirus page on its site that sends people to the Small Business Administration, which is working with state governments to provide low-interest disaster recovery loans to small businesses.
- The Gig Workers Collective has a master list of resources available on its website.
- Apron, Inc. is offering $400 grants to any restaurant workers who are diagnosed with the coronavirus.