Jon Bon Jovi isn’t the only charitable person feeding the Hamptons’ hungry during the COVID-19 crisis. Marit Molin, a local social worker and founder of Hamptons Art Camp & Outreach has expanded her Sag Harbor-based nonprofit’s mission teaching art to kids, to delivering meals to those in need.

Molin created her new outreach program soon after the pandemic began taking its toll on the region and it became unlikely she would open her art camp this summer. By delivering hundreds of meals daily to local food pantries and other entities, the effort also helps keep afloat the Hamptons restaurants that provide those meals.

Hamptons Art Camp & Outreach is run through charitable donations, and 100% of funds go toward area restaurants and suppliers which make all meals destined for distribution centers that disperse the food to residents who need it. Each week they deliver 400 meals, 2,000 pounds of fresh produce, various groceries and supplies, and children’s arts and crafts packages to local families. All of this came together quickly thanks to a dedicated volunteer network of friends and locals who manage the program’s logistics.

Restaurants such as Cilantro’s, La Hacienda, La Parmigiana, Ted’s East End Market and Southampton’s Cheese Shoppe make meals for worthy recipients, including Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center, Bridgehampton Food Pantry at the First Baptist Church, Bridgehampton School, The Children’s Museum of the East End (CMEE), Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry and the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, where Molin leads a Girl Scouts troop. The program also sends special bimonthly deliveries to the medical staff at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

To date, Hamptons Art Camp & Outreach has raised more than $76,000 through donations from individuals and organizations, such as All for the East End (AFTEE), the Halsey Family Foundation, the Sag Harbor Cinema Community Relief Fund, Southampton Bath & Tennis Club, Southampton Lions Club, the Rauch Foundation and Supplies for Success.

Molin and her team sent out a statement about their endeavor, pointing out misconceptions about the Hamptons, which most only know as a summer escape for the rich and famous. It goes on to explain that more than 43,000 “food insecure” children currently live in Suffolk County, as per recent Feeding America data.

“There has been extensive press coverage of the wealthy fleeing New York City and sheltering in their second homes in the Hamptons during the COVID-19 crisis,” the statements adds. “Hamptons Art Camp & Outreach would like to raise awareness of the disparity that exists in the Hamptons and to secure as much funding as possible to continue and expand food distribution to those struggling during this crisis. This is an extraordinary opportunity for the whole community to come together.”

To help Hamptons the Art Camp & Outreach team continue their work, donations can be made directly at hamptonsartcamp.org or through the program’s GoFundMe campaign.