Last year, they carried the restaurant with donations through the darkest days of the pandemic. Now they carry each other – with donated meals.
The restaurant, a nearly 16-year-long staple in Norfolk, Virginia, has launched a free meal initiative to feed the community with customers’ meals.
Anyone who needs a meal can go to the restaurant, pick up a ticket from the “Franks for Friends” bulletin board and exchange it for a menu item.
“Maybe Covid hit them very hard, or they’ve been through work in between – or maybe they’re having a meal for their neighbor,” Tarly Morris, owner of Perfectly Frank, told CNN. “We do not ask any questions.”
The initiative began to grow rapidly
The idea for ‘Franks for Friends’ started with a single donation.
After Morris reopened the restaurant to eat in person, donations from the community declined as people felt normal.
But her staff – mostly university students from Old Dominion University – struggled to get their bags.
A friend and a longtime customer donated $ 2,000 to the restaurant and asked that $ 100 go to each staff member and the rest feed the community. With $ 700 left, Morris starts giving away free meals.
The initiative developed rapidly. Customers also started donating. A bulletin board has been installed. A clipboard has been designated.
“I had no idea what was going to happen,” Morris said. “We started collecting meals faster than we give them away.”
According to Morris, about five people demand meals a day – a number that barely scrapes the amount available. To get more meals out, Morris’ staff prepares large orders for local after-school programs twice a week.
In the restaurant, she tries to keep the meals on the notice board different.
Delicious hot dogs, salads and melted foods abound in Frank’s extensive menu, but cheeseburgers are the most popular items.
Customers for free meals take their ticket to the register to redeem it, where they can customize their order and choose a drink.
‘It’s not even about the money’
Morris said she receives calls, emails and letters from people across the US who want to support ‘Franks for Friends’.
An email from Miami, Florida caught her eye.
“He said, ‘I do not have much money – I’m actually broken – but I saw your story …’ and he was so filled with joy to know that there are good people doing good things in this chaos, said Morris.
The man later called to donate a meal – $ 10 – but his card was denied.
The employee of Perfectly Frank, who called him, filled in her card details and donated $ 20 in his name.
“The story was the most moving and it only involved $ 20,” Morris said. “It’s not even about the money. It’s about people doing nice things for someone.”
There is no end in sight
Morris said the surplus of gift meals is so large that she cannot see an end.
“I hope it goes on forever,” she said. “At the rate the donations are coming in, I feel it will never stop.”
Morris said she hopes to work with more local organizations to give away big meals. But for now, she said everything that happened was a much-needed boost.
“If we were to get rid of Covid and all the hardships – we did not know if we would get it right first,” she said. “We went from ground level to as high as you can go. It was very constructive, very humble. We know we are doing well.”
Morris said Frank has given away more than 100 meals so far. She does not think they will run out soon.