Just announced today, The Donnelly Group (The Academic, The Bimini, The Calling, Cinema, The Lamplighter, Metropole, etc.) has committed to purchasing products from restaurateur Mark Brand’s Save on Meats for all Donnelly Pub Group menus, in an effort to support Save on Meat’s program to provide healthy meals for residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Mark Brand reopened the iconic Save On Meats building last year in June 2011 with an ambitious business plan and underlying social mandate. One branch of this mandate is their partnership with the Atira Women’s Resource Society to collaborate on a meal program providing healthy and delicious hot lunches to residents of Single Room Occupancy and Single Room Accommodation in the Downtown Eastside. The focus of this meal program is on providing both nutritious and enjoyable food items in order to give people at risk a healthier and happier mealtime.
With the goal to increase the size of the program and to improve the quality of meals being provided, Mark Brand was in need of more partners to help with funding. The Donnelly Group, a local hospitality company dedicated to supporting local causes, was happy to get involved. In May 2010, Jeff Donnelly, CEO and President of the Donnelly Group, re-launched the Metropole Community Pub, which donates 25% of profits to organizations in the Downtown Eastside and supports numerous charities through the Donnelly Fund. The partnership between Save On Meats and the Donnelly Group was a natural fit and in line with the charitable goals of both organizations.
By sourcing products from Save On Meats for the Donnelly Pub Group menu, the Donnelly Group is helping to subsidize the meal program through the development of exceptional menu items that are locally and ethically sourced. The Donnelly Group is currently sourcing products for all burgers, sliders and sausages on the pub menus from Save on Meats. This helps to subsidize a meal program that now feeds 480 people a day, with 1400 pounds of nutritious food being distributed every week.
