World-renowned, two-star Michelin chef Daniel Boulud has partnered with SL Green Realty's chairman and CEO Marc Holliday to launch Food1st, a local nonprofit that will help combat hunger and feed frontline workers fighting the novel coronavirus. 

Food1st launched Thursday with thousands of meals being delivered to first responders, elderly New Yorkers, and food-insecure families. 

"It has been wonderful. The first day, we had 1,200 meals come out." Boulud told Cheddar. "Those meals are actually, right now being delivered to Midtown Manhattan in hotels where thousands of nurses are coming back from work or are going to work." 

The food and restaurant service industries have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. SL Green Realty contributed a $1 million grant to the Food1st organization and Holliday said the nonprofit is a way to directly support foodservice tenants in his portfolio rather than donating to a large corporation. 

"We wanted to do something to help this industry," Holliday told Cheddar. "We had the idea that maybe we could have a dual strategy, a double benefit, rather than us just contributing to an organization to provide food to those in need. We said "Let's do it in a way that activates our portfolio of tenants.'"

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