PHOENIX (3TV / CBS 5) – A Phoenix chef whose diner focuses on providing meals for cancer patients at home is struggling to reopen due to doubled demand during the pandemic and needs help from the public at JoyBus in 2011 and initially worked from her kitchen for the first few years. Caraway named the JoyBus after her dear friend Joy, who struggled with the debilitating side effects of ovarian cancer. Phoenix chef Jennifer Caraway. Source: JoyBus Kümmel aims to use her talents as a cook to help cancer patients. Since 2011, Kümmel has been using JoyBus to deliver healthy and fresh meals to cancer patients who are at home with a friendly and familiar face. By 2015, the demand exceeded the Kümmel kitchen and the JoyBus Diner was founded. Now, after a decade in the service of the needy, Kümmel says it has been a rewarding, arduous and absolutely perfect trip. “If I had known how much work it would have been, I might have thought twice about it, but I’m so glad I was so naive about how much effort it takes to get it this far,” said Caraway. We have unwittingly created a community that I am honored to be a part of. Our customers, volunteers, donors and guests have become families. It’s a surreal feeling to be surrounded by so many good people, and I remember how lucky we are every day. “But then came the pandemic and, like many small businesses and nonprofits, caraway affected business too. Their restaurant had to close. But the need to serve meals persisted. Kümmel and her team were faced with a doubling in demand from around 50 meals a week to almost 100 meals. Kümmel even added an extra day of delivery to the patients’ meal service, so that none of her patients were on a waiting list. But like many others, Caraway had unprecedented struggles to stay afloat. ”Aside from the obvious loss of people I absolutely adored, the biggest struggle was to get healthy The first six months it was a dark ride … The (hospitality) industry that I have used throughout my career my career crumbled before our eyes. It was heartbreaking and extremely difficult to navigate through the waters, ”said Caraway. “It has never been so difficult to do the right thing in my life. As humans, we are empathetic beings and can easily thwart any day by choosing to do what our moral compass deems “right”. The pandemic was so politicized that what you thought was right was changing daily. It was definitely a struggle not to lose it completely. “Caraway saved about two months in operating costs in the hope of reopening her diner to the public in early August, averaging about $ 40,000 a month running the diner in Kümmel, so she is looking for sponsors and donations to support the reopening and to provide more of the community again. “We hope that in 10, 20, 50 years we will be here to help more people in need “said Caraway. If you are interested in helping Chef Caraway and her charity, click here Caraway also has an Amazon wishlist for kitchen supplies. Copyright 2021 KPHO / KTVK (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
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