The Salvation Army Partners with Local Restaurants in Unique Partnership

April 23, 2020 (Mountain Home, Arkansas)   What if a charitable community could bridge the gap between the economic hardships experienced by Twin Lake restaurants but would also provide local meals to those in need during this COVID-19 crisis?  A vision and call to help by two Twin Lakes citizens resulted in a new community partnership called Mountain Home Cares.

Mountain Home Cares  (MH Cares) is an extraordinary partnership between The Salvation Army, the Arkansas State University-Mountain Home (ASU-MH) campus, and local restaurants to provide meals to a community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.    ASU-MH’s campus is the location for drive-thru pickups of meals to allow a means to maintain social distancing while not obstructing traffic.

The Salvation Army of Mountain Home is the “boots on the ground” support for MH Cares operations.  Coordinating with 10 local restaurants for seven meal drives to date, The Salvation Army has served over 3,300 meals in to-go containers through the MH Cares partnership.  Local businesses and individuals are providing donations to fund meal preparation through local restaurants. The meals are then served to those families affected by the pandemic, as well as, essential front-line employees and healthcare responders. 

The Twin Lakes community is continuing to answer the call to help.  MH Cares and The Salvation Army are humbled by donations, words of encouragement, and those tremendous volunteers making this happen. Since the beginning stages, the partnership is a true collaboration and has taken a life of its own. Businesses are calling to find out how to donate to the cause.   Because The Salvation Army is serving as the administrator and assisting with meal service, 100% of funds donated have gone or are going to directly support local participating restaurants with over 3,300 meals served to those in need. MH Cares and The Salvation Army will continue this partnership until there is no longer a need or a “semblance” of normal returns. 

To sum up a great relationship, one of the visionaries states, “We believe the mission of MH Cares with the partnership of The Salvation Army (and their track record of “meeting human needs without discrimination”,) has likely resonated within our great community.  Private donors and business alike have identified this as a true and urgent need not currently being addressed within our community.”