Home » Graffeati » Recapping EatStreet’s Giving Season

Recapping EatStreet’s Giving Season

Throughout this holiday season, EatStreet was focused on making an impact in the communities we serve. We had our Give Back & Eat Up campaign which benefited food pantries all over the Midwest, then we held our 5th annual Goodman Center Fundraiser in Madison, and finally, we showed our local favorite hot spots how much they mean to us with Operation: Restaurant Love! With the generosity of DreamBank, our incredible EatStreet employees, and loyal customers like you, we were able to make a real impact on the Midwestern communities we cherish so much. 

Give Back & Eat Up

With everything 2020 has thrown people’s way, food pantries and charities have suffered setbacks as well. Since they’ve experienced a greater need to fill for those who rely on them, we wanted to help in any way we could, especially by getting our wonderful customers involved in giving back. We gave customers a coupon code for $1 off their orders and matched that with a donation to a local food pantry in their community. Through those orders, more than $4,000 went back to those pantries and charities in Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois! Each donation was a glimpse into the generosity of our customers in wanting to make sure people in their community were able to get what they needed when they needed it most.

Goodman Center Fundraiser

The Goodman Center in Madison has always held a special place in EatStreet’s heart. The Goodman Center goes above and beyond to provide the Madison area with healthy, fresh, and organic groceries for more than 300 hungry households every week, with a determination to meet special dietary needs as well. This was our 5th year partnering with Goodman for their Thanksgiving Basket Drive, collecting non-perishable food items and monetary donations to fill Thanksgiving baskets for local families. To assist with that, we held Fill The Van events at local grocery stores where Madison residents could get involved as well. Through the generosity of the community from those events and donations from EatStreeters, we were able to raise more than two cargo vans full of food and $6,000 in cash that benefited 4,000 families in Dane County, Wisconsin enjoy a full Thanksgiving meal! DreamBank also came in clutch and donated an additional $5,000 benefiting The Goodman Center’s other community programs (read our Facebook post for more details). We are so proud to partner with Goodman Center and are very thankful for all the great work they do in our hometown of Madison. 

Coverage from a Fill The Van event

Operation: Restaurant Love

Throughout November, EatStreet customers submitted “Thank You” messages to their favorite restaurants as a part of our Operation: Restaurant Love campaign. Restaurants got to learn first-hand how much they mean to customers and how much their food can give people a sense of joy and normalcy when few things do. In addition to the kind words from patrons, we again partnered with DreamBank to give three local Madison Restaurants – Lao Laan-Xang, McGee’s Chicken, and El Pastor Mexican Restaurant – an extra special surprise of $5,000 each for a grand total of $15,000 in donations! 

Lao Laan-Xang is a family-run restaurant that has been in Madison for over 30 years, serving up the city’s favorite authentic Laotian cuisine. With such a small dining room, they haven’t been able to offer any sort of dine-in service since the pandemic hit in March, and rely completely on take-out and delivery orders.

McGee’s Chicken’s owner Esperdell McGee started his restaurant as a church fundraiser, but it was so popular that it quickly became a business of its own. In addition to their Eastside Madison and Sun Prairie locations, McGee’s will be opening a new location in Fort Atkinson.

El Pastor Mexican Restaurant has been serving authentic Mexican cuisine in Madison since 1998. It is a neighborhood favorite on Madison’s South Side for birthdays, casual dinners, and comfy, familiar eats.

The owners of Lao Laan-Xang, McGee’s Chicken, and El Pastor receiving their checks via WKOW

We want to sincerely thank all of you for helping make this last month, and year, possible. We are so lucky to have supporters like you who are in the cities we couldn’t live without. From our great home state of Wisconsin to the greater Midwest, and beyond, we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We hope the rest of your year is great and we can’t wait to continue serving you in 2021.