Anna Decker of Lilydale — one of more than 35 grandchildren of 88-year-old Diane Hoffman of St. Paul — recruited several of her first-cousins to distribute 100 healthy meals Friday to doctors and nurses at Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, which has been converted into a COVID-19 facility.

Decker plans to buy more meals for front-line workers through her fundraising effort, Feeding the Frontline MN. The Fairview Foundation is collecting donations, but meals can be distributed to any hospital. Agra Culture, which has restaurant locations in St. Paul and Minneapolis, delivered the 100 meals on Friday.

Decker joined her mother, Deb Fee of Inver Grove Heights, in a virtual hug outside the hospital. Keeping six feet between them, the two also offered distance-hugs for Decker’s first cousins — Ryan Hoffman, Jane Hoffman and cousin-in-law John Pierce.

The meals they delivered came through Decker’s Facebook-based fundraising initiative, Feeding the Frontline MN (facebook.com/feedingthefrontlinemn), Decker has raised $6,000 in just under two weeks to hire restaurants and caterers that specialize in healthy fare. Another $10,000 donation is on the way.

How far will that money go? On Friday, $625 bought 100 bag lunches — a variety of sandwiches, fruits and vegetables, as well as 200 donated JonnyPops frozen fruit and cream bars — from Agra Culture, a “healthy fast casual” eatery that has sites in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“That’s feeding two shifts of doctors and nurses,” said Decker, whose husband is a cardiology fellow at the University of Minnesota. “We’re hoping to get into other ICUs.”

Those funds are also helping keep food service workers employed at a difficult time, Decker said.

Fee is quick to point out that the money will be spent wherever there’s a front line, not just in M Health Fairview hospitals.

“The money will be used throughout all hospital systems,” said Fee. “That’s one of the big pieces of the foundation. They’re very community-minded.”

After their first delivery on Friday, the extended members of the Hoffman family plan to gather feedback from Bethesda, and then continue recruiting restaurants and delivering meals as long as they’re needed.