DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF)- A new North Texas Initiative, Get Shift Done, is hiring laid off restaurant or hospitality workers to work shifts for non-profits in need during the COVID-19 crisis. The need for help at the food banks is surging, volunteers are staying home, so the Get Shift Done workers are filling the gap to get food to those who need it. Local business and community leaders Anurag Jain and Patrick Brandt launched the idea with support from their respective companies, community leaders, restaurant owners, and non-profit organizations, such as the North Texas Food Bank, where Jain serves as Chairman of the Board.
“We saw that the volunteer population for our local non-profits were experiencing an escalating need for volunteers during this crisis and the at-risk population needs for food and resources were spiking,” says Anurag Jain, Chairman of Access Healthcare and Managing Partner of Perot Jain. “We also know there is a large number of workers in the food and beverage hospitality industry that are currently in need of work. Our goal is to help both the workers and the non-profits facilitate delivering meals to those in need while providing wages to the affected shift workers,” he added. 
The Shiftsmart platform and operations team will manage the onboarding, matching, scheduling, dispatching, and routing of workers to perform shifts. The existing infrastructure of food banks will be leveraged to match affected workers with available shifts. Restaurants will schedule their staff shifts at North Texas based non-profit organizations preparing, assembling, and delivering meals at a wage rate of $10/hour, paid from the Get Shift Done for North Texas Fund.
“We want to do our part and help our community during this crisis,” says Patrick Brandt, President of Shiftsmart. “Through our partnership with the North Texas Food Bank, we are able to serve over one million meals while providing wages to over 1,000 workers per week,” he adds.