Even if they can't give those workers a paycheck- they can make sure their families eat.

There are 100,000 restaurant and bar workers without jobs in Ohio due to the state shutdown, according to the Ohio Restaurant Association.

Two Columbus restaurant owners say even if they can't give those workers a paycheck- they can make sure their families eat.

Samantha Giesige has been a server for 21 years.

"It's a real love of the public. I really love interacting with people that start off as strangers," she said.

The job she loved- and the income it provided- evaporated with the state-ordered shut down of much of the service industry.

"Inside of three days, I would say almost all of my friends lost their jobs."

The last income she had was March 12.

"I think it is at a crisis point, because there is no foreseeable change."



It was three weeks ago that 10TV spoke to her boss, about the obligation she felt to her staff.

"It's heartbreaking, you know? I don't know how to help them. And I don't know if there's an answer," said Sangeeta Lakhani, owner of The Table in the Short North.

She has had to lay off nearly her entire staff.

"Whatever loans, grants, unemployment, bartender grant, whatever people are applying for, they're not going to see for weeks. People are hungry right now."

Matthew Heaggans co-owns Ambrose & Eve. He had to let go of his entire staff of 60 people.

"The human toll is the biggest impact on me," he said.

That toll is being felt by service families all over our community.

"The situation is becoming more dire for people, day by day," Heaggans said. "I think over the next couple of weeks we're going to see a real increase in the number of people who pretty desperately need access to food."

After the initial shock of the shutdown, he and Lakhani decided there had to be something they could do to help.

"We're like we gotta feed our people," she said.

"It's the thing we know how to do," he said.

That's when "Service" was born.

"It's Service- a relief project for hospitality workers. Our very simple goal is to feed 200 to 400 service industry people and their families a day, seven days a week," said Lakhani.

"We're going to assemble a staff that we're going to pay, so we can actually do some employment. That was really important to us," said Heaggans. "But we have to raise money to make food. We're shooting for food costs of less than five dollars a meal."

They are accepting donations and selling T-shirts- each will allow them to feed three people. They plan to start making and distributing meals next week.

"It is our job right now to take care of them. This is what we know how to do best. They're hungry, and we're going to make sure they have one healthy meal a day," said Lakhani.

"We didn't want to get hung up about feeling sorry about the things going on," said Heaggans. "We just knew that something needed to be done."

For more information or to donate: https://servicerelief.org/

To order a t-shirt: https://www.bonfire.com/service/