Where Community and Technology Come Together
The mission of our nonprofit mRelief is to transform access to social services for the inherent dignity of all people. Food security has long been a challenge in surrounding communities of Burke Elementary School in Chicago, and police brutality has made the situation even worse with the CPS meal pickup closing on June 1st. While some of the CPS meal sites have re-opened, the need in the community goes far beyond families with children.
With lack of resources and an increasing need for groceries, Trina Reynolds-Tyler, Dominique James, and Jihad Kheperu (with support from several community organizations, including BYP100) started the initiative The People’s Grab-N-Go Meal Site at Burke Elementary School which provides 1-2 weeks of groceries for people in the southside community. mRelief joined forces with this initiative and in partnership with DoorDash, Stripe, and Gina's Collective, families also receive a $25 credit towards a hot meal delivered from a local restaurant.
Up to 500 $25 promotional codes in Chicago will be provided to families who participate in The People’s Grab-N-Go Meal Site.
Trained volunteers on site will help distribute the codes by instructing each family to text “Chicago” to 74544. To get their meal credit to place an order for hot food in their community, they can first check their eligibility for SNAP, Link, and P-EBT. If they are already receiving SNAP, it is still encouraged for them to screen. In the future, we will share updates about other public aid that may become available with them. Additionally we will have a mRelief representative there once a week to set up at a station that will also be on hand to aid with any tasks needed.
Here’s how it works:
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Families can text Chicago to 74544.
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Families will learn whether they are eligible for SNAP and can share their first and last name so mRelief can generate an account that covers the costs of tip and delivery.
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Families will be contacted by an mRelief team member over text messaging with their credentials to a DoorDash $25 code for them to redeem. This will also include a gift card that is pre-populated to cover service fees & tip up to $5.00.
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After they finish answering the questions they will receive a follow-up before the end of the day about the DoorDash initiative.
People’s Grab-N-Go is providing community residents the opportunity to grab groceries and necessities for parents like diapers and baby formula. The Meal Site happens every Monday 11am - 4:30pm until the end of June.
