Grassroots charities in Raleigh and Durham sending meals from local restaurants to hospitals

Grassroots charities led by residents are going up in cities across the nation with the goal of supporting local restaurants that were forced to shutdown dine-in service and lift the morale of local healthcare workers on the frontlines.

Twenty-two-year-old Kara Summerford spearheaded Fuel The Fight Raleigh with a goal of providing between 75 to 100 meals per delivery and two deliveries per day to Triangle hospitals including WakeMed, UNC Rex Healthcare and Duke Healthcare.

Fuel The Fight is in 15 U.S. cities and in London raising nearly $300,000 in total from 3,100 donors in a matter of days.

"I was sitting at home and thinking how could I give back what could I do?" Summerford said. "My friend in Denver who launched Fuel The Fight Denver said, 'Hey, you should start this in Raleigh.'"

Each local chapter is using a GoFundMe account to finance their work. Fuel The Fight Raleigh has a goal of 40,000 dollars. Summerford raised more than 6,000 dollars in about four days. One hundred percent of the donations received are being used towards meal deliveries

"As of now, it's been really great and we've had such great feedback from our community and people outside our community. The community is really reaching out to help these providers. I've already seen a direct impact," Summerford said. "And, my sister is a pediatric physician in Arizona, so to have that firsthand to give back during this pandemic is really inspiring me to give back with meals and treats during this time."

In Durham, a similar movement is in motion, Feed The Fight. According to its Instagram, Feed The Fight was started by five longtime Durham residents with more than 30,000 dollars of a 50,000 goal raised.