Food Network host Guy Fieri worked to raise more than $20 million over the spring and summer to help unemployed restaurant workers, who continue to struggle as the pandemic wears on.
The longtime TV host of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives made personal pleas with large corporate sponsors, including PepsiCo, Uber Eats and Moët Hennessy USA, to support his Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, according to Newsweek.
Fieri started the fund on March 27 as COVID-19 was rapidly spreading through the U.S. and much of the world. The group has helped more than 43,000 restaurant workers “who have suffered financially due to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis,” particularly through $500 grants to restaurant workers in every state, Newsweek reports.
The Food Network released a documentary, Restaurant Hustle 2020, which Fieri worked on as an executive producer. The film, which premiered on Dec. 27, follows four chefs—Maneet Chauhan, Antonia Lofaso, Christian Petroni, and Marcus Samuelsson—as they navigate the challenges of being restaurateurs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A true philanthropist
Fieri has also raised money for intellectually-disabled children. He’s received the Make a Wish Foundation’s highest honor. And during the California wildfires of recent years, he served thousands of meals out of the same mobile kitchens he’s using to feed hospital workers now, according to CBS News.
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