TORONTO (CelebrityAccess) — While concerts and sporting events have come to a halt for now at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, the cavernous venue is far from idle.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has repurposed the arena as part of a partnership to create a large-scale meal program aimed at supporting health care workers in Toronto as the city hunkers down amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The meal program sees the arena recast as the largest kitchen in Toronto, with the arena floor being used for food prep and meal packaging.
The program’s partners intend to deliver as many as 10,000 meals to hospital workers on the front lines, and other community agencies.
The partnership includes MLSE, as well as Tangerine Bank, Bell Canada, and Rogers Communications.
As well, Scotiabank has repurposed its opening its culinary facilities at Scotia Plaza in Toronto for additional meal prep space.
Second Harvest, a food rescue organization with operations in Toronto, is supplying the food for the program.
“Scotiabank Arena normally serves as a gathering place for fans to be entertained and cheer on their teams, but today, as the world deals with the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our arena will serve as a place for people to come together and support our community when it is most in need,” said MLSE President & CEO Michael Friisdahl.
“In a time of crisis like we are experiencing, many different needs emerge, and we saw this as a chance to use our facilities and engage our people to serve our community. We are grateful to MLSE’s employees, our teams through the Team Toronto Fund and the Maple Leafs Alumni for their donations and our generous partners for helping answer the call and providing the resources needed to fill an important need at this critical time,” Friisdahl added.
