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Medical workers wait for cars to pull up to the swabbing tent at the city's coronavirus testing site
Medical workers wait for cars to pull up to the swabbing tent at the city's coronavirus testing site.Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
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Few people travel on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
Few people travel on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.AP/Matt Rourke
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A selfless group of Philadelphia pals launched a fundraiser to pay local restaurants to feed health care workers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Cole Berman and five of his friends launched the page — called “Fuel the Fight” — last week while working from home, CBS Philly reported.

They wanted to help workers in both the health care and restaurant industries — who have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.

“We wanted to highlight our Healthcare workers who are on the front lines right now,” said the description for the fundraiser. “Overworked, understaffed, separated from loved ones, exhausted and hungry, these warriors are fighting every hour of every day to save our loved ones and keep the rest of us safe.”

“We’re looking at it pretty much as a double play,” Berman told the local station.

The group executed the plan entirely through text, following social distancing rules. Since its launch Friday, the page has reached nearly $23,000 of its $50,000 goal.

Tuesday’s dinner will be delivered to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and serve more than 50 health care workers, according to the station.

Meals will also be provided to Jefferson, Bryn Mawr, Paoli and Christiana Hospitals.

“If we’re not cooking for our customers, we want to be cooking for the doctors and the hospitals,” Ben Miller, who owns South Philly Barbacoa with his wife Cristina, told the outlet.

“It’s helping us out that we can maintain some staff and some income coming in as these times are so devastating,” Miller said. “We’re going to be back in the kitchen putting the love in the foods to give people some more fuel.”

The fundraiser will go on “for as long as necessary,” Berman said.

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