Jacksonville Automobile Dealers Association board members and Lean Impact Nutrition’s owner are delivering healthy entrees along with support to hospitals and JSO substations.

The Jacksonville Automobile Dealers Association has a rich history of giving back to the community over the past 20 years to the amount of $2.2 million. It traditionally focuses on children and family charities, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, the board members knew it was time to show some appreciation to those on the frontline.

The organization, made up of 62 new car and truck dealerships on the First Coast, contracted Lean Impact Nutrition, a meal-preparation company in Green Cove Springs, to prepare and deliver 2,500 meals to local frontline heroes dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There are thousands of local frontline heroes in our community dealing with COVID-19 patients daily and putting themselves at risk for our community,” said JADA President Phil Porter, owner of Subaru of Jacksonville. “Providing meals for these local heroes is our way of saying, ‘Thank you,’ for their sacrifice and commitment.″

The meal deliveries began Friday, April 24, with a noon delivery of 250 meals at Mayo Clinic — enough to serve two shifts of frontline workers and support staff.

The deliveries continued early this past week with another 350 meals delivered to Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and another 400 meals between Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Baptist Medical Center South.

JADA board members are helping deliver the meals to the various locations. They visited other hospital administrators (at Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside Hospital and Clay Medical Center), Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office substations, and first responders. By next Thursday, its mission of delivering 2,500 meals over a two-week span will have been completed.

There was a special delivery, though, this past Thursday at JSO Substation Zone 2 at Regency Square Mall. In addition to 110 meals provided for two shifts, JADA representatives presented a $5,000 check to the substation commander for the PAL program.

JADA is excited to collaborate with Lean Impact Nutrition owner Zach Elkins, who made it his own personal mission to donate meals to Clay County hospitals over the past few weeks.

“We wanted to give meals to people on the front line, our critical emergency room staff and maybe make their shift a little better by providing them a healthy meal,” Elkins said.

According to Elkins, these two particular dishes have received the best feedback:

‒ Carolina Chicken: All natural, antibiotic-free chicken topped with a Gold BBQ sauce and served with red pepper-cilantro rice and fresh snipped green beans.

‒ Chicken Orzo Parmigiana: All natural, antibiotic-free chicken topped with marinara and shaved aged parmesan reggiano, accompanied by toasted garlic orzo and garlic green beans.

Thursday’s selection was Sweet BBQ Bowl with char-grilled chicken, sweet BBQ sauce and mesquite roasted potatoes.

For more information on JADA, visit jadaonline.com, and for Lean Impact Nutrition, visit LeanImpactNutrition.com. Kim Bourke, marketing director at Subaru of Jacksonville, contributed to this report.

https://www.jacksonville.com/business/20200501/jada-driven-to-donate-2500-meals-to-frontline-heroes