Meals thank health workers

Market Eating House in Bunbury has donated more than 120 meals to Bunbury health care workers through its Pay it Forward program.

Owner Bec Pyke was inspired by friends who worked in the health care industry and felt she could do something to help workers on the frontline.

“We had seen lots of restaurants around Australia doing similar things, so we were inspired by other initiatives that were happening,” she said.

“A lot of my close friends are nurses or work in the hospitals and just seeing the pressure they were already under and knowing we could find a tangible way to help is what kicked us into gear.

“Even though we are in a safe position here in the South West, the work that they still had to put in for what might have come has been extreme.

“It’s been great to support them.”

Through her friends, Mrs Pyke has seen first hand the impact of the coronavirus crisis on health care workers.

“Everything changed so quickly and everything is unknown for them,” she said.

“I think the hardest part was getting the hospitals and all the health providers ready for what was to come,” Mrs Pyke said.

“We’re very fortunate that the virus has not hit us hard here in the South West, but the hard yards were put in and are still being put in every day.”

Mrs Pyke had the foresight to ramp up the restaurant’s online service before the restrictions hit.

This has allowed them to serve food and donate meals despite not being able to welcome diners into the restaurant.

“We could see what was going to happen so we built our online shop so we were online from day one, even before we were closed for dine-in trade,” she said.