On Monday, Sept 13, frontline healthcare workers and physicians at MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach received hundreds of hot meals from local restaurant Johnny Rebs, along with a $10,000 check to support future meals to uplift spirits during the pandemic, from the accounting firm, Windes
“Windes is proud to have the opportunity to provide a gesture of “thanks” to the tremendous team at MemorialCare,” says James Cordova, managing partner, Windes. “The community is extremely fortunate to have a dedicated medical staff and organization who go above and beyond for us. We hope that our donation of a warm meal acts as a form of comfort to those that are working tirelessly to get us through this challenging time.”
Windes is on one of more than a dozen community organizations, board members, former physicians, and elected officials to support the staff at the second largest healthcare campus on the West Coast. To date, the Long Beach Medical Center & Miller Children’s & Women’s Foundations have secured more than $53,000 in cash and in-kind donations (donors order directly from a restaurant), halfway to the $100,000 goal.
“Our community partners have really stepped up for us over the past 18 months,” says John Bishop, chief executive officer, MemorialCare’s Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach. “Many of our staff are working long hours, seeing major loss, while battling a pandemic to the likes of which we haven’t seen in a century, and they are exhausted. Having these hot meals are a reminder that people outside of these walls care about them, support them and want to thank them for their efforts.”
The Temple Family from Temple Storage ensured that the pharmacy team, who works around the clock preparing medication for patients suffering from everything from cancer to COVID-19, and the night shift from the Mother Baby Unit, who are seeing a boom in births, received delicious meals from Grand Food & Beverage Catering.
One nurse wrote back to the Donation Center at the hospital, “The night shift team of the Mother Baby Unit would like to extend a heart-felt THANK YOU to Sumer Temple for the gracious dinner donation tonight! We appreciate the ongoing community support.”
Additional community organizations who have given back include, the Long Beach Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Marathon Petroleum, Halbert Hargrove and The Rudolph J and Daphne A Munzer Foundation. Several community members, former elected officials and board members such as Lisa Chapman, Gary & Dawna DeLong, Bob Foster, Jim & Gail Gray, Vern & Trish Schooley and Jim Wells, M.D. have all generously given to the cause.