Waitr, local restaurants team up to take ‘burden’ off families in need this Thanksgiving

Allyson Taylor-Rhodes, a mother of six children, didn’t know how she was going to provide her family with a Thanksgiving meal this year until Sheri Simms knocked on her door.

Simms, a Waitr driver, brought Taylor-Rhodes eight meals Monday from Francar’s Buffalo Wings for her family to enjoy on the holiday.

“As a mom of a big family, six kids, I just feel so overwhelmed with everyday living,” Taylor-Rhodes said. “I’m just so thankful that someone thought enough of us to feed us for Thanksgiving. Now, that’s one big, huge burden off of me.”

Waitr, a food delivery app, started delivering free meals Monday to families in need in Middle Georgia as part of their Share Thanksgiving program, according to a news release. Families were nominated by Waitr customers, and Waitr set aside a portion of the money they’ve received in the past five weeks from all deliveries to fund the initiative.

The local restaurants participating in the program include Growler USA, Memaw’s at LG’s Restaurant, Sonny’s BBQ in Perry and Francar’s in Macon.

“Every day, Waitr provides thousands of meals to its customers, but these Share Thanksgiving deliveries are truly special deliveries in every sense of the word,” said Whitney Savoie, Waitr’s market development director, in the release. “It’s just a really nice way to give back to the community that honestly does so much for us.”

One of the reasons Simms loves her job as a Waitr driver is because she says the company helps people keep their independence when they otherwise would need assistance. The Share Thanksgiving program provides similar aid.

“They were really grateful, and they really needed it, and I feel really good about it,” she said.

Francar’s donation of 40 meals allowed Waitr to double the amount of meals they were able to deliver and gave meals to every family that was nominated, said Jaimie Best, market manager for Waitr. They delivered around 75 meals in the Middle Georgia area, she said.

Francar’s always provides meals to people on the holidays in some way, but Waitr’s program made it easy for them to give back to the community, said Carl Fambro, owner of Francar’s Buffalo Wings,.

“This is just one little way we can help out,” Fambro said. “Everybody can do something. You may not be able to do a lot, but you can do something and little stuff adds up.”

Some Middle Georgia organizations will also be providing free meals for the holiday. Find out where to receive a free meal here.