Treat Yourself, Treat Your Friends, Treat Your Heroes

Utilizing the Resources and the Foundation of successful Miami Eats. Order Out, Help Out’ program, new Initiative Seeks to Raise Funds to Provide Meals to Frontline Responders during the COVID-19 Crisis

Miami, Florida (April 20, 2020) – The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), creators of the popular “Miami Spice Restaurant Months” program, launched the ‘Miami Eats. Order Out, Help Out’ program to support local restaurants suffering from the downturn in business created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched on March 20, 2020, the program now has more than 1000 participating restaurants.

GMCVB.com/MiamiEats offers Miamians a convenient location to source Greater Miami and the Beaches’ vast dining options while at home and creates awareness of takeout and delivery offerings.

‘Miami Eats’ has now partnered with ‘Meals for Heroes, Miami’, a non-profit, donation-based organization, founded by philanthropist and Miami resident Will Osborne and his son, restaurateur Mac Osborne. ‘Meals for Heroes, Miami’, also created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, launched on April 1, 2020. It seeks to meet two complementary objectives; to feed stressed and exhausted first responders risking their lives daily and provide revenue and protect jobs at Miami restaurants. “Miami is a city built on the hospitality industry, which is being crushed by this pandemic. This is a fight that is going to be won by our healthcare frontline workers, in conjunction with our first responders. These three constituencies, hospitality, healthcare, and fire/EMS/police need our support. Purchasing meals to deliver to these stressed professionals is a sign of support from a grateful community” commented Founder Will Osborne.

“The GMCVB is proud to align the ‘Miami Eats’ program with the ‘Meals for Heroes, Miami’ initiative,” said William D. Talbert, III, CDME, President & CEO, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Miami Eats was born from the Bureau’s commitment to drive demand for the hospitality industry. As the heroes of this community, we could think of no better group than first responders to be recipients of Miami’s best take-out and delivery food providers and with the full force of the bureau’s marketing efforts already in place, there is a great opportunity for ‘Meals for Heroes, Miami’ to utilize the platform of ‘Miami Eats’ to help drive donations to ‘Meals for Heroes, Miami’, so they can expand their efforts”.

Additional GMCVB initiatives include: Hotels for Essential Lodgers, a comprehensive list of hotels open for Essential Lodgers during the crisis; Miami Salutes, an initiative calling on restaurants and retailers to extend special offers to heroic frontline and first responders; Help for Tourism, a web page providing the industry and other GMCVB partners a look at how to secure assistance; Virtual Miami, a web portal dedicated to showcasing local virtual events, webcams, video’s showcasing neighborhoods, attractions, museums and experiences that make Greater Miami a world-class destination, as well as unique downloadable backgrounds that capture the beauty and diversity of Greater Miami for remote meetings; and the Miami Pandemic Response Fund, a partnership between the GMCVB, United Way of Miami-Dade, Miami Herald/Nuevo Herald, Health Foundation of South Florida and The Miami Foundation to create a $500,000 fund to support hospitality workers and their families with emergency needs including food, supplies, utilities, rent/mortgage assistance and micro-grants.

For more information about all of the following programs put together by the GMCVB in response to the unprecedented effects of COVID-19 on hospitality and tourism in Greater Miami and the Beaches, visit our website.

About the GMCVB
The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) is an accredited not-for-profit sales and marketing organization whose mission is to attract visitors to Greater Miami and the Beaches for leisure, business and conventions. For a vacation guide, visit our website or call 1.888.76.MIAMI (US/Canada only) or 305.447.7777. To reach the GMCVB offices, dial 305.539.3000. Meeting planners may call 1.800.933.8448 (US/Canada only) or 305.539.3071 or visit our meeting planner homepage. To get further engaged with Miami and the Beaches, join the conversation by following us on our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

About Meals for Heroes, Miami
Meals for Heroes, Miami is a donation-based organization. All administrative, legal and financial and operational expenses are borne by the founders; therefore 100% of donations go towards restaurants in the purchase of meals. A $15 donation will support a first responder meal, $500 will provide meals for one ICU shift, $5,000 will support an Emergency Room for two shifts, and $10,000 can ensure meals for one day at three Miami Frontline Hospitals. Donations can be made by clicking here.

For media inquiries, please contact Taylor Cavazos at tcavazos@kivvit.com or 956-245-6788.