Jim Gaffigan and his wife Jeannie are giving back to their life-saving local hospital.
In a new interview with CNN, the comedian talked about his new fundraising effort to help feed healthcare workers at hospitals around New York during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Hospitals have played an important role in his family’s life. In 2017, Jeannie had a near-fatal brain tumour removed at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.
“We were notified that, understandably, [the hospital] is under a lot of pressure. They are working crazy hours. We can’t provide PPE (protective equipment) but we thought we could send over some burgers. So, we teamed up with Shake Shack and sent over food for a whole shift,” Gaffigan said.
Jeannie added, “These medical workers need just a little brightness in their day, anything.”
For the fundraiser, which is benefiting the non-profit Imagine Society, Jeannie explained, “We’ve started this hashtag #FoodForFearless campaign. People might not have any money to buy pizza for a group, but they might have a couple bucks to get a cup of coffee. They can just donate two dollars and we can put it toward some treat we are going to be sending to the hospitals.”
The Gaffigans have also been hosting nightly dinner livestreams, so fans can tune in for a virtual dinner to get them through self-isolation.
“We were discussing things that we can do, because you feel so powerless. You want to help so many people,” Gaffigan said. “We thought maybe there are people who are separated from their families, who want to join ours for dinner. So it started as kind of a simple idea. Now we are using it as an opportunity to raise money while we do ‘Dinner with the Gaffigans.'”
