Massanutten’s Shenandoah Provisions division provides meals to the community; seeks volunteer drivers to boost reach.
When the Covid 19 shutdown appeared imminent, Massanutten Resort and Shenandoah Provisions, its Food and Beverage wing, and at least one MPOA Board member looked at the situation closely.
The resort has large, well-equipped commercial kitchens. It had a lot of inventory. It had talented culinary professionals. But because of the pandemic, it really didn’t have much in the way of customers. More importantly, there were people in the community who needed help.
“We realized that there were folks out there who might need some food assistance, said Mark Litz, Vice President of Operations for Great Eastern Purveyors, which operates Shenandoah Provisions. “The reasons might be due to job loss, or because they were in higher-risk categories for the disease and were trying to avoid public spaces like grocery stores, or something else. We knew we couldn’t feed everyone forever, but we did know we could take some of the pressure off.”
The solution became clear: utilize resort personnel and equipment, and provide prepared food deliveries to people who needed it.
The first week, meals were offered only within the Massanutten community itself, as a proof-of-concept. Generating leads through area social media pages, the program was then expanded outward into surround communities. Deliveries have been made as far south as Grottoes and Mt. Crawford, into Harrisonburg and to the eastern side of Elkton.
Each week, Shenandoah Provisions is offers a complete meal. Past offerings have included main courses like meat loaf, lasagna, and chicken pot pie. Each delivery comes with a half loaf of fresh homemade bread, a dessert and at least one side. Each delivery will feed a family of four, or a couple for two days.
Litz said the resort would like to double the number of days and deliveries, but the limiting factor is drivers. “We’re currently running once per week on Tuesdays, with an average of 50 deliveries each time,” he said. “Currently, all the drivers are resort employees. They have other jobs within the resort, but they volunteer their time for this. We’ve kept available deliveries to 50 so far because we’re struggling to find more drivers – and if community members wanted to volunteer, that would be a huge blessing. It could help us as much as double the reach.”
Persons wishing to volunteer, Litz said, can do so by emailing community@massresort.com.
Litz said reaction to the program has been heartwarming. “Recipients are so grateful,” he said. “And they’re not trying to get something for nothing – we’ve had people who contacted us who said “hey, I just went back to work. Can you give that meal to someone else who really needs it?”
He added that Shenandoah Provisions is looking into additional ways to help the community through the pandemic.
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