Sister City Community Table Project-Key Biscayne Restaurateurs Support Liberty City Families in Need

First day of the Sister Cities Community Table Project in Liberty City’s Belafonte TACOLCY Park. (Amanda Fried via Key News)

BY: Amanda Fried

Key News Contributor

A new and creative collaboration among The Rotary Club of Key Biscayne, the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the Belafonte TACOLCY Center (The Advisory Committee of Liberty City Youth), and participating Key Biscayne restaurants has set the table for a pandemic response win-win. The Sister City Community Table Project raises funds to purchase meals from Key Biscayne restaurants for food-insecure Liberty City families during this public health emergency. 

Participating restaurants prepare and package delicious meals three times per week. Rotary volunteers pick up the meals and drop them off in Liberty City, where the Belafonte TACOLCY Center coordinates distribution among Liberty City families. The Rotary Club has already raised over $1,000 since launching the project on May 4, and the first 100 meals were distributed on May 5. 

Belafonte TACOLCY Center CEO Shownda Pagan expressed her enthusiasm for the collaboration: “It is in times like this true family support leads to great things. Seeing our Sister City, The Village of Key Biscayne, reaching out and collaborating to ensure all families in Liberty City are provided with a healthy meal, speaks to the strength of our relationship. As the new CEO of Belafonte TACOLCY Center, I look forward to enhancing our current partnerships and welcoming new ones.”

The Rotary Club and its partner organizations are asking for donations so they can continue to help meet the food needs of Liberty City children and their families. Key Biscayne restaurants have arranged to provide each meal for just $10. Donations support not only families in need but also Key Biscayne restaurateurs suffering through protracted forced business closures. The Community Table Project helps our local restaurants continue to run their kitchens—enabling local residents to enjoy take-out—while helping to feed our Sister City friends and neighbors too.

Key Biscayners can support this important initiative by donating via PayPal or at www.facebook.com/rotaryclubofkeybiscayne

Participating Key Biscayne restaurants as of May 6 include: Milanezza, Pita Pockets, Ayesha, La Scala, Oasis Café, Tutto Pizza & Pasta and Novecento.  Their contributions are important and much appreciated.  

Meals from Pita Pockets were delivered to the Belafonte TACOLCY Park in Liberty City for the park’s first meal share program.