AUSTIN, TX – For nearly 14 months, many in the live music industry have gone without work.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it left not only musicians out of work, but stage crews, roadies, and everyone involved with putting on a show.
Musically Fed said they saw the devastating impact it was having on the music community, so they wanted to help.
They have been putting on drive-thru food distributions in several states since the start of the pandemic. And on Saturday, they came to Austin.
From produce to meat to pantry items, boxes were loaded and put into cars to keep more than 300 families fed for up to two weeks,
“We have everyone from gig workers, to singer/songwriters to a few club staff people, who I think this is going to make a real difference to,” said Maria Brunner, founder of Musically Fed.
For Jeff Went, he was in charge of those volunteering at the distribution, but he’s a roadie himself and knows what this past year has been like.
“We are not able to sit for a long time, so by pushing yourself to find work and still have a bare fridge, but to survive – an event like this is amazing for anyone who comes through it,” he said.
Went said with being out of work, many had to take on whatever jobs they could to survive. So, on Saturday, he wanted to give back in any way he could.
“It’s like booking a gig because I penciled it in my calendar and drew little hearts around it,” he said.
Kiley Benson, Associate Executive Director of Loaves and Fish, traveled down from Minneapolis with two truckloads full of food to help.
“I think the misconception is there’s only a need for food access if you’re homeless or in a tent around, but this pandemic has shown that every individual at every walk of life needs food access,” said Benson.
He added that if being able to give these families and individuals two weeks of knowing where their food source is coming from, that’s one less thing they have to worry about.
“All of the other things that go along the wayside are able to be looked at when you don’t have to think about ‘Am I hungry?’ especially when there are kiddos,” he said.
