MILWAUKEE — Every Friday, some of the best restaurants in Milwaukee serve thousands of meals to hungry customers beginning their weekends. However, all those meals aren’t made the same. There are 300 that stand out among the rest.

“I would say the program has really surpassed any expectations any of us had,” Gregory León, the owner and head chef at Amilinda.

The program is called Hungry Hearts. León helped start it with Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church. Every week three restaurants cook 100 meals that are given out for free to those in need. They are distributed at Hepatha Lutheran Church. The goal was to give the food away to a place in Milwaukee that’s experiencing food scarcity. Anyone can pick up a meal – no questions asked every Saturday.

“So since the project started we’ve been able to give out almost 40,000 meals,” León said.

These are not your average meals. They are made by some of the best restaurants in Milwaukee including Amilinda, Lopez Bakery and Restaurant, Alem Ethiopian Village, Pasta Tree, Hue Asian Kitchen, Holyland Grocery and Deli, Damascus Gate, Goodkind, The National Cafe, and Lazy Susan MKE.

“I’m glad to be in his program because this program’s helping the people who need the food on the table,” Mulu Habtesilssie, the owner of Alem Ethiopian Village, said.

Hungry Hearts started during the pandemic in 2020. It was originally operated out of Damascus Gate Restaurant. However, once the pandemic became less severe, the organization ceased operations. Then in the fall of 2022, through a collaborative effort between Tippecanoe Presbyterian and Hepatha Lutheran, operations resumed.

While it was giving away free meals to those in need, it was also a lifeline to struggling local restaurants during the pandemic. Through fundraising, participating restaurants were paid $1,000 for 100 meals each week.

“Cause any little influx of cash really helped us and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to be open from one week to another,” Suzzette Metcalfe who owns The Pasta Tree said.

Hungry Hearts was able to raise more than $300,000 for all the restaurants involved which meant the lights could stay on and employees kept their jobs.

“We were able to help our friends keep their businesses open which in turn they were able to keep their employees. People were getting paid. They were able to pay rent. They were able to pay taxes to the city and the state,” León said.

While the program was successful, unfortunately, funds have dried up.

“We have our last Saturday next weekend, and then what we’re doing is we’re taking a break during the summer so we can raise more funds because we’ve run out of money,” León said.

Hungry Hearts was a win-win situation. It helped feed those in need and kept our favorite restaurants open. You can make a donation to Hungry Hearts through the Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church’s website. restaurants that want to participate should email León at chefgregleon@gmail.com

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