Med students rally to 'feed the frontline'

Feeding The Frontline Medical Student Daniel Milad tells us more about 'Frontline Feeds' and the organization's efforts to supply meals to health care workers.

OTTAWA — A group of Ottawa medical students is raising money to help feed workers in the industry they're hoping to one day enter.

FrontLineFeeds Ottawa-Gatineau is a fundraising campaign, located on the GoFundMe platform, that aims to buy meals from restaurants and donate them to workers in local hospitals and long-term care homes experiencing outbreaks.

One of the campaign organizers, Daniel Milad, tells CTV Morning Live's Annette Goerner, the students wanted to find a way to give back while they wait to finish their studies.

"We're three medical students that started organizing this because we've been sent home from medical school due to the pandemic, but we wanted to find a way to give back," Milad says.

The crowdfunding campaign had already raised more than $6000 in its first four days.

Milad says the goal is not only to support and thank frontline health-care workers, but also to support local businesses.

"We're taking that money and buying meals from local restaurants and businesses and supplying them to health-care heroes," he says. "One hundred per cent of donations goes to that. Hospitals are super happy to receive our meals and the restaurants have been super, super grateful because they have been bleeding financially, so we're trying to help them survive this pandemic as well."

Milad says it's been a difficult time for medical students who have been sent home because of the pandemic. He adds he felt a "deep sense of responsibility" to give back to the people who may one day be his colleagues.

According to their fundraising page, FrontLineFeeds is donating meals to the following places:

In addition to financial donations, the group is also looking for volunteers to deliver the meals.