Jake’s Offers Free Meal to Restaurant Workers

PALM SPRINGS — Jake’s, a popular bistro on North Palm Canyon Drive known for its gourmet comfort foods, on Thursday, April 9 will offer a free meal to any employee from any restaurant in Palm Springs.

The meal will consist of rigatoni with spicy sausage, in a tomato cream sauce with petite peas. A vegetarian option will also be available, said Chris Malm, who co-owns the restaurant with his husband, Bruce Bloch. The gesture is another form of comfort at a time when so many restaurant workers are without jobs.

“We understand most of the restaurant community is suffering,” Malm said.  “In the business it is called Family Meal, it is the benefit of a meal that most restaurants offer to their staff.  We want to help any displaced restaurant employee.”

The meal will be distributed at 3 p.m. in front of Jakes, 664 N Palm Canyon Drive.

In mid-March, most restaurant employees had their world change in an instant, we just want to help by feeding them a meal, Malm said.

Malm and Bloch had originally planned to serve 50 people a meal. Thanks to an anonymous donation slipped under Jake’s gate, the duo will now serve at least 55.

They have also set up a GoFundMe page to help their 32 employees. To date, the effort has raised more than $17,000.

Jake’s has also taken meals to the Emergency Department at Desert Regional Medical Center and to physicians at Kaiser Permanente.

“It’s all about trying to help,” Malm said. “We were in New York and lived through 9-11, It’s just food to us.”

If you know anyone that may be eligible, please send them to Jake’s on Thursday at 3 p.m.

Malm and Bloch are indicative of the goodness and empathy that is a hallmark of the Palm Springs community.

In an interview with Uken Report in March, Mayor Geoff Kors praised the goodness and compassion of the community and its people.

“So many people have reached out to offer help to neighbors, strangers to go grocery shopping for people who are in higher risk categories,” Kors said. “It really shows the kind of community we are.”

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