The Tulsa Drillers organization will begin to participate in Tulsa Kitchens Unite, a program that has been developed by Hunger Free Oklahoma to help feed families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the program, the Drillers’ food and beverage personnel, who normally work the games at ONEOK Field, will now instead provide a minimum of 250 meals daily that will be distributed free of charge through the program.
In addition, the Drillers have also pledged to donate proceeds from all online merchandise sales during the month of April to Hunger Free Oklahoma. For the remainder of this month, 100% of the proceeds from sales of any items listed under the “COVID-19 Relief” tab in the Drillers online store will be donated to Hunger Free Oklahoma. Also, 20% of the total on purchases of all other items in the Team Store will be donated. The Drillers online store can be accessed by clicking HERE.
Under the Tulsa Kitchens Unite program, Hunger Free Oklahoma is partnering with locally owned restaurants, food trucks, caterers and other local businesses like the Drillers that have the ability to produce pre-prepared and refrigerated to-go style meals. In turn, the meals are provided to families in this time of crisis. The program goals are to keep local kitchens open, keep workers paid and keep local families fed.
The Drillers food and beverage staff will began preparing meals this week using the facilities at ONEOK Field.
The prepared dinners are distributed at sites set up by Hunger Free Oklahoma, including at schools and at nonprofit and faith-based organizations. The meals are provided at no cost to the recipients. Tulsans who are struggling during this unprecedented economic downturn will be able to pick up the free meals and feed their families.
“We are appreciative of the opportunity to partner with Hunger Free Oklahoma in the Tulsa Kitchens Unite program,” said Drillers President Mike Melega. “These are difficult and unsure times for so many of us, and we hope that the work of our folks to provide quality meals will be a comfort to local families. It is a just a small part that we can play in a very important program that Hunger Free Oklahoma has developed.”
Hunger Free Oklahoma Executive Director Chris Bernard said, “We are grateful to so many of our community partners who are working at or above capacity to make sure Tulsans in need have access to food.”
“We are also grateful to the Foundations who are supporting so many efforts around the city, including this one.”
Through the generous donations of many individuals and foundations, Tulsa Kitchens Unite has reached nearly 70% of its funding goal. The program has set an initial goal of running the program for 12 weeks, averaging 30,000 meals per week.