Tork, a global leading professional hygiene brand of Essity, today announced a $100,000 donation to support restaurants and hospitals in Philadelphia, the headquarters for Essity’s global professional hygiene business and the hardest-hit region in Pennsylvania with more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases.

In partnership with Off Their Plate, a grassroots organization that funds local restaurants to provide free meals to frontline healthcare workers in cities across America, Tork will provide 10,000 nutritious meals to Philadelphia-area hospitals and clinics, as well as $50,000 in economic relief for restaurant staff. The meals will not only be delivered to physicians and clinical staff, but also to hospital environmental services, cafeteria, security and maintenance workers – all of whom are essential to the smooth operation of healthcare facilities.

In addition to pushing hospitals and clinics into overdrive, the pandemic continues to impact the foodservice industry. Restaurants have been forced to shut down dining rooms and lay off workers, leaving many cooks, chefs, wait-staff and kitchen helpers without jobs.

Tork provides professional hygiene products for both healthcare facilities and restaurants and is committed to helping these industries, which have been severely impacted by COVID-19. This is why the brand has partnered with Off Their Plate, an organization whose dual mission is to provide demand for restaurants, while serving free meals to frontline healthcare workers.

“Tork is proud of this partnership which makes it possible for us to support both restaurants and frontline healthcare workers,” said Don Lewis, President of Professional Hygiene at Essity. “This pandemic has deeply impacted our customers and we are dedicated to helping businesses that have been hardest hit – such as restaurants and cafes – on their road to recovery.”

“Since mid-March, we have raised enough funds to support the delivery of more than 300,000 meals across nine U.S. cities,” says Natalie Guo, Harvard Medical School student and founder of Off Their Plate. “Thanks to Tork, we will now have the capacity to significantly expand our work in Philadelphia, where we have seen a large increase in demand for our services.”