Brian Fritz started Livelihoods to Lives during shutdown as a way to help give local restaurants business while thanking those on the front lines of COVID-19. Fritz, law firm partner at Fritz and Bianculli, buys meals from local restaurants like Macaroni’s at 9315 Old Bustleton Ave. and donates them to hospitals, police stations and more.
In its first three weeks of operation, the program funded by Fritz and Bianculli moved more than 1,000 meals from local restaurants to local responders. Since then, the program has cleared the 10,000-meal milestone from 20 restaurants, and has expanded to several more cities.
“People who care about each other and help each other have the positive energy to make a difference,” said Fritz, a Father Judge High School alum.
Recently, the program has been focusing mostly on providing support for police. Local restaurants Macaroni’s, Three Monkeys Café, Café Carmela and Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse are all participants of the program.
Fritz has also helped the program extend to Los Angeles, Cleveland and Boca Raton, working with likeminded people in those areas to help them spearhead their own programs, he said.
Even though the program began as a response to COVID-19, Fritz is encouraged by its growth and hopes to maintain the momentum in the future, possibly hosting fundraisers or transitioning into other charitable causes.