Food Trucks, Labor Groups Team Up To Feed Sacramento’s Frontline Workers

In a world without outdoor events, Sacramento’s food trucks are mostly spinning their wheels.

In the meantime, they’ve found a niche serving essential employees. Mobile catering company SactoMoFo organized a line of trucks to deliver 700 free meals to UC Davis Medical Center workers Friday. They saw a flood of customers and ran out of food in the first hour.

“We’ve had to pivot and come up with new solutions,” said owner Paul Somerhausen.“Health care workers are a large part of our usual customer base, so we were excited to be part of a way to say thank you and to show our love to them.”

Funding for the meals came from the Feeding the Frontlines initiative, spearheaded by Democratic Sen. Dr. Richard Pan along with the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the Labor Project for Working Families. 

The groups are raising money to continue the food truck feeds every Friday. They plan to expand the effort to postal service workers, grocery store employees and farmers. 

Gina Maxwell works in the lab and pathology department at UC Davis Medical Center. She says she and her colleagues have been trying hard to stay upbeat and focus on the work.

“It’s been crazy. A lot more potential cases, a lot more me making sure my family stays safe,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep the situation light, do our best, try not to dwell on it, just take it in stride, do what we’re instructed to do.”

She called the food truck donation “amazing.”

“One of the biggest things you can do is feed somebody,” she said. “So the fact that the community is reaching out to give us food as a thank you, I think that’s great. Everybody needs a thank you in some way.”

Somerhausen said he looks forward to continuing to serve the community. Food trucks were deemed an essential business in Sacramento County’s latest public health order. 

Find more information about Feeding the Frontline, including how to donate, here.