A Chatham resident is putting a call out to the community to support restaurants that are taking a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hannah Waters has created a GoFundMe page in the hopes of combatting two issues by fundraising -- supporting local businesses and helping the municipality's most vulnerable individuals.
"We are raising the money to purchase meals from local restaurants that can be delivered to the doors of people in need," explained Waters.
Waters, who currently attends school in London, said she has past experience working with homeless shelters. Her inspiration also came from being a member of her school's Engineers Without Borders student club, which comes up with solutions to community issues by addressing the root causes.
According to Waters, she has been in contact with local shelters and centres to make sure the initiative is done in the safest way possible.
"Some organizations cannot accept donations right now due to the possibility of spread," she said. "I have come up with a few backup plans, the first being purchasing gift cards from restaurants now to be used later when everything settles down."
She added that she's also considering the possibility of splitting the funds into both a monetary donation to the shelters and to be used to purchase food or gift cards at the restaurants at a later time.