Million Gallons to serve food to thousands of Connecticut workers laid off due to coronavirus

One organization is determined to help service workers who were laid off amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Million Gallons announced it'll be distributing food to restaurant workers in Connecticut. Next week, workers who were laid off can drive to Washington Boulevard in Stamford, and volunteers will put a half-gallon of soup per family member in the trunk of their car.
Longtime chef Eric Korn says he thought about the grim reality of his fellow service workers when restaurants were forced to close in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
"Everyone that we have ever worked with was going to be out of a job very quickly, he says. "Knowing that a lot of them were undocumented workers, knowing that the income for them was going to be gone, and there was no sign in the future of money coming in, food was a very basic thing to go to."
Korn and fellow chefs created Million Gallons just two weeks ago. The cooks make soup in commercial kitchens and then freeze it to keep the shelf life longer.
The group sources ingredients from unused product in restaurants, corporate donations, and sometimes food banks and food pantries.
Million Gallons has already helped thousands of families in New York and is prepared to make its way to Connecticut. Restaurant group Fortina has joined the cause and the first distribution center will be in Stamford at Harbor Point.
At Million Gallons, Korn says there can never be too many chefs in their kitchens.
"The people that we're feeding are our family. It's the cooks and dishwashers and service staff, it's the team we've spent our whole lives working with," he says. "This is our way of saying look we're all in this together, we're going to do what we can together and we'll get through this."
Korn encourages residents to make their own soup to donate and use #milliongallons on social media to get the group's attention.