Gourmet in a Box

Getting a full, healthy meal is one of the hardest things to accomplish for poor families. Ann’s Choice has partnered with the YWCA to make that important task a little easier.

Tuesday, Ann’s Choice kicked off a regular food donation drive when members of its community service group bagged meals prepared by the three restaurants housed in the complex. About 100 containers of gourmet dishes were packaged and sent to YWCA’s Family Centers, including the Bucks Landing location in Warminster and three centers in Bensalem.

“These meals are as healthy as you are going to get,” said Gary Bullard, chef for the Liberty Commons’ Signature Restaurant. “They are low sodium, have no trans fats and 80 percent of the ingredients are from scratch. All of these meals are straight off of our menu. They are the same ones our residents order.”

The dishes include a protein, two vegetables and a starch. As the kitchens prepare orders each day, they accumulate any excess ingredients so that at the end of the day, they have enough left over to make meals for the YWCA. The meals are frozen and stored until it’s time to make deliveries, which they expect to do at least twice a month.

The program was originally started by Ann’s Choice residents Judi and Earl Reeder two and-a-half years ago. They delivered donated meals regularly to Good Shepherd Church in Upper Southampton, but when they left nobody took over the duties. Looking for a new organization that could benefit from the food, they asked Susan Abtouche, director of philanthropy for Ann’s Choice for suggestions. Abtouche immediately thought of the YWCA.

“It took about two months to find a new charity,” said Lori Reeder. “The chefs kept asking when they were going to start cooking the extra meals again. They got a kick out of making those donations.”