Melinda Blanchard (front left) with staff of Blanchards Restaurant and Beach Shack.
ANGUILLA--Restauranteurs Bob and Melinda Blanchard have raised over US$200,000 to help more than 1,000 Anguillian families with food supplies. They are now planning to turn their restaurant into a food bank in order to continue their donations.
In a report on ABC News, Melinda said, “Our first thought was to send food down to the island and convert the restaurant into a relief centre. As soon as we realised that it would be impossible to do that while practicing social distancing, we knew we needed another way to get food to the Anguilla community. We worked with grocery stores on the island to create what has turned out to be a very successful programme.” The Blanchard’s gave money to grocery stores, printed thousands of $50 food vouchers and had them distributed to the vulnerable in the population.
After Hurricane Irma the couple turned the restaurant into a relief centre. Melinda said that raising money in a pandemic is harder than after a hurricane as everyone is suffering. She stressed the fact that Anguilla is reliant on tourism and nobody is sure when tourism will return but in the meantime they are continuing to raise money and are very grateful for all the donations.
“Anguillians still have many months of unemployment ahead and we need to get them some more food,” Blanchard said, adding that they are out of funds and looking to raise another $100,000 in order to “convert the restaurant into a food bank where people [can–Ed.] stop by to get groceries on a regular basis.”
