Redwood City — Older residents at high risk from COVID-19 can receive three nutritious meals per day delivered to their home from restaurants and other food providers across San Mateo County, helping them stay home and stay healthy. The program also provides an avenue for local food services and providers to continue operations and maintain their employees, softening the losses felt by the COVID crisis.
Local restaurants, caterers and food providers are strongly encouraged to apply immediately for the program, titled ‘Great Plates Delivered SMC’, and administered by County Health. All registered food businesses in San Mateo County were sent an email survey to invite participation and are encouraged to fill out the survey, linked here in English (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SMCGreatPlatesDelivered), Chinese (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SMCGreatPlatesDelivered_Chinese), and Spanish (https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/SMCGrandesPlatosEntregados), or call the following hotlines staffed by multi-lingual County workers:
(833) 261-3663 | Spanish
(833) 600-7276 | English
(833) 600-7275 | Mandarin
For businesses operating outside of San Mateo County, the State’s participation form is available at https://covid19.ca.gov/restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors/
Participating providers will need to be able to meet volume and nutritional standards; meet cultural needs; and prioritize local jobs, worker retention, worker health and safety, and standards of equity and fairness in employment practices, wages, hiring, and promotion. The program will reimburse up to $66/day for three meals per recipient and excludes food providers currently participating in another state or federal meal service program.
Great Plates Delivered SMC matches participating restaurants with qualified residents, including those who are 65 and older, and adults 60-64 who are at high-risk from COVID-19, to deliver three (3) nutritious daily meals. Delivery is arranged by the food provider and requires that delivery workers are pre-vetted by background checks and other screening, likely tapping into existing delivery infrastructure. Eligible residents include those who are COVID-19 positive or have been exposed to COVID-19, and individuals with an underlying condition. In addition, they must live alone or with one other eligible adult, may not currently be receiving assistance from other state or federal nutrition assistance programs, and earn less than 600% of the federal poverty limit. Great Plates Delivered SMC is open for enrollment now. Residents are encouraged to call (800) 675-8437, and speak to multi-lingual county staff to apply for meal delivery services.
The Great Plates Delivered program was conceived at the state level, anticipates partial reimbursement from federal sources, and is first in the nation to create a vital solution that connects residents-in-need with struggling restaurants and local food providers.
“Being designated the local administrator for San Mateo County for the Governor's Great Plates Delivered meal program is an important step in ensuring all older adults in our community have food," said Lisa Mancini, Director of Aging and Adult Services, a division of San Mateo County Health. “This program will provide food security for one of our most vulnerable populations and help provide essential economic stimulus to local businesses struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 crisis. We appreciate this program being launched and will do everything we can to support its fullest execution.”
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Diana Rohini Lavigne
Public Information Officer
San Mateo County Health
(650) 867-1661
HLT_PIO@smcgov.org