Community-Funded Meals Help Feed Vermonters in Need

During the height of the pandemic, Pingala Café provided 58,000 free meals to food-insecure community members through Vermont Everyone Eats, a food relief and economic development initiative that connected those in need with ready-to-eat restaurant meals.

Everyone Eats ended when federal funding ceased on March 31, 2023. But Pingala co-owners Lisa Bergström and Trevor Sullivan had customers who relied on their free Caesar-ish bowls and Rooster wraps — as many as 100 per day, seven days a week across the vegan café’s two Burlington locations.

“It was pretty black and white for us,” Sullivan said. “The funding was gone, but a lot of these people that were eating the food we were putting out still need to eat. So we just kept feeding them.”

At first, the restaurant was footing the bill — to the tune of 600 donated meals. Margins are tight in the food biz, though, and to make their free-meal program sustainable, Pingala’s owners started a Pay It Forward program. That model — sometimes referred to as “suspended meals” — is one of several ways local restaurants and food businesses are facilitating donations to feed those in need. In a time of rapidly rising food prices, increased cost of living and resulting food insecurity for many Vermonters, direct community action is gaining ground. And businesses are making it easier than ever for those who can afford it to chip in an extra few dollars — or even just click a button to help.

Now, Pingala customers can opt to add $10 to their tabs — when ordering online or in person — to sponsor a future meal for someone else. And they’ve really stepped up, funding 287 meals last year and 125 so far in 2025.

The money goes directly into a separate bank account, Sullivan said, and a corresponding voucher is printed. To receive a free meal, all someone has to do is grab a receipt from the bulletin board and bring it to the register — on the honor system, no questions asked. The vouchers are good for a Caesar-ish wrap or bowl, a Rooster wrap or bowl, or a Berry Bliss smoothie, all valued around the $10 that’s donated.

Pingala Café’s Rooster Wrap Credit: Courtesy of Owl's Iris Photography

At 3 Squares Café in Vergennes, customers don’t have to pay to make an impact — they just have to scan a QR code and post a photo.

“Of anything,” co-owner Scott Collins said. “Their meal, their foot, the wall.”

In February, Collins signed up his restaurant for GiftAMeal, a national for-profit business that operates in 38 states. Collins pays a subscription fee of $70 per month, and GiftAMeal donates 1.2 pounds of groceries to the Vermont Foodbank every time a 3 Squares customer posts.

The free-for-customers process encourages online engagement with the restaurant, Collins said, while simplifying how small, low-margin businesses such as his can give back. 3 Squares team members set a goal of 200 donated meals per month; they hit 194 meals in February and 150 in the first three weeks of March.

Collins has committed to two more months of GiftAMeal and plans to continue “as long as it’s working,” he said. Customers can post every time they come in, and if they share the photo to social media, an extra meal is donated. But if they lose interest, it could hit a point where GiftAMeal gets more money from 3 Squares’ subscription than from donations. In that case, Collins said he’d consider a more hands-on model of adding $1 per check to go to the food bank.

“But it seems more impactful to give people a chance to do it themselves,” he said.

Other food operations have donations baked into their business models. As it’s grown, Miss Weinerz has settled into an 80-20 split, baker and operator Ren Weiner said, with 20 percent of sales donated to mutual aid organizations.

“I have yet to see the need cease since COVID.” Ren Weiner

The Burlington microbakery is best known for its sourdough doughnuts. But in 2024, Miss Weinerz donated $18,914.25 worth of breads, applesauce, chicken broth, frozen sweet potato fries and other locally sourced, mostly prepared items to Food Not Cops, the People’s Farmstand, the North End Food Pantry and Old North End Freedge.

On top of that, Miss Weinerz accepts customer “doughnations.” When placing an online order for weekend delivery, shoppers can add to their cart as many of these $5 donations as they want. While it’s not a huge part of the business, which mostly sells wholesale, the added funds support delivery to community members who are homebound or can’t access food shelves due to work schedules or other constraints.

“I have yet to see the need cease since COVID, but it’s harder to say ‘I need help,’ because everyone’s not out of a job,” Weiner said. “So we give without asking.”

Community donations often come in surges when businesses have time to spread the word, both Weiner and Sullivan said — and it’s easy for marketing to get lost in the daily grind of running a small business. But the programs continue, no matter how thoroughly they’re funded.

“It just feels like the right thing to do,” Sullivan said.

Shani Legore, a third-year medical school student originally from Jamaica, has used Pingala’s Pay It Forward program for two years. In the high-stress med school environment, she often finds herself without the bandwidth to make proper meals.

“I’m at school 12-plus hours sometimes,” she said. “It’s so reassuring to be able to run over to Pingala during my quick lunch break and know that, at least I’ll be nourished for the next couple hours.”

The staff knows her order when she calls — a Rooster wrap. The relationship she’s formed with them, and how they’ve created a safe space for people to seek support, she said, “goes way beyond the free meal.”

“I always joke that once I become a doctor, I’m definitely going to give back,” Legore said. “Literally pay it forward, because someone paid it forward for me.”

The original print version of this article was headlined “Pay It Forward | Community-funded meals help restaurants and food businesses feed those in need”