Thanks to Hearth Shares founder, Kevin McCall, giving back this holiday season is now easier than ever. All it takes is eating at one of Hearth Shares participating restaurants to benefit Hearth, Friends of Boston’s Homeless and other nonprofits working to house the homeless in Massachusetts.
The program, which launched November 1 and will continue through the holiday season, offers restaurant goers the opportunity to add a voluntary donation to their bill at the end of the meal. “We’ve launched Hearth Shares with a small and enthusiastic bunch of restaurants and we want to prove out our concept with them this year,” McCall tells BostInno.
So far, over 25 restaurants in the Boston-area are participating, including Gaslight Brasserie, Ostra, Blue Dragon, Blue Ginger, Beat Hotel, The Beehive, Sweet Cheeks and more.
Here, McCall tells BostInno how he spends his days promoting Hearth Shares while also working a full-time job as CEO at Paradigm Properties, a real estate investment and management firm.
How do you spend most mornings?
I’m usually up early for a morning workout, shower, smoothie, and commute to my office. When I get in, the day could go in any number of directions.
What are the top priorities on your to-do list right now?
In the real estate investment business, you have to take advantage of the positive part of the market cycle because you know it won’t last. In the community part of my life, I get huge satisfaction from trying to help some terrific nonprofit organizations grow their impact. I make it a priority to find small but meaningful ways to do that almost daily.
Why did you decide to launch Hearth Shares in Boston?
Two years ago, while visiting my son who was working in London, I stumbled upon London’s StreetSmart program which began in 1998 and has provided over $12 million to London-area homelessness organizations through this model of restaurant diner contributions. As Board Co-Chair of Hearth, a Boston nonprofit that provides permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless elders, my first reaction was “let’s do this in Boston.” So, upon my return, I called Annie Garmey at Hearth and she jumped on the idea. We formed a committee and spent a bunch of time getting feedback from a terrific group of restaurant owners and chefs to tailor the program to the Boston market and diner. We also successfully pitched the Citizens Bank Foundation to serve as the sponsor of the program underwriting all of the program expenses so 100% of diner contributions could go directly to helping end the scourge of homelessness in Boston.
We launched the program with 27 restaurants on November 1 and the feedback so far has been very positive. In fact, one of our participating restaurants emailed Annie that first night to announce their first table had contributed $21 (we ask for a modest $1, $3, or $5 contribution).
How did the Boston restaurant community respond to the Hearth Shares program?
Working with the restaurant community has been, hands down, the most fulfilling aspect of putting this program together. We just couldn’t be happier with the support we’ve gotten. Restaurants are regularly asked for contributions – a gift certificate for this cause, food for that cause, serve as a celebrity chef for another – and they do way more than their share to support the community. Why? Because they are just a great group of caring people.
If you could impart one piece of advice to our readers, what would it be?
Well, of course, in the context of the Hearth Shares program – eat at our participating restaurants in November and December so you can make a contribution to Hearth Shares, tell all your friends and colleagues to do the same, and, if you go to a restaurant that is not in the program this year, ask them to join next year!
If you weren’t answering my questions, what would you be doing instead?
It’s Friday night, and I’m still at my office. Glad this is the last question because I’m going home to my family!
Image courtesy of Hearth Shares
