There’s a hospital in New York that holds a very special place in the hearts of comedian Jim Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan.
Manhattan’s Mt. Sinai Hospital is where Jeannie had a near-fatal brain tumor removed in 2017. She credits her life to the doctors and nurses there, which is why she and her husband are trying to give back to medical personnel on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic.
“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,” Jim Gaffigan told CNN in a recent interview.
“These medical workers need just a little brightness in their day, anything,” Jeannie Gaffigan said.
The couple has started a fundraising effort to deliver food to hospitals across New York City’s five boroughs through their nonprofit organization, The Imagine Society.
“We’ve started this hashtag #FoodForFearless campaign,” Jeannie Gaffigan explained. “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.”
For Jim and Jeannie, wanting to help throughout this health crisis is why they’ve also invited people into their home for a virtual dinner every night on YouTube.
“We were discussing things that we can do, because you feel so powerless. You want to help so many people,”Jim Gaffigan recalled. “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.’”
Although having five children sheltering in place under one roof has its challenges, the Gaffigans are making the most it.
“You get a lot of time with your kids. You get a lot of interaction,” he said. “That’s something we should be very grateful for.”