Michael’s the VP of Communications at The Infatuation. They’ve teamed up with The Migrant Kitchen to provide free food to people at polling places. Will this remove a barrier to voting and allow more people to exercise their sovereignty? And more importantly, is that cool?

“The goal is to dole out 50,000 meals on Election Day. And the math for us is pretty simple. The more money we're able to raise, the more meals we'll be able to serve.”

Listen to Michael’s submission featured in Episode 70 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full episode below:

Michael:  Hey, I'm Michael Sinatra, Head of Communications for the restaurant discovery platform, The Infatuation and Zagat. Today, we are excited to be talking about Feed the Polls, which is a nonprofit initiative that The Infatuation an Zagat has started in partnership with the 501(c)(3) organization, The Migrant Kitchen. 

Our goal is simple: to offer free, healthy meals to people waiting in line on Election Day, November 3rd, in select cities across the United States. Our main goal right now is driving awareness and letting people know that food insecurity is an issue out there, and it should never prevent someone from turning out to vote.

We're working hard with The Migrant Kitchen, who has a unique model to partner with third party organizations and cities across the country to get catering services, restaurants, food trucks, whatever it may be, to set up in different locations outside of polling locations, to serve healthy, nutritious meals.

The Infatuation and Zagat… we know food, we know restaurants, it’s sort of in our DNA and it's what we do on a day to day basis. So we chose the issue of food insecurity and thought if we can help play a role in solving that problem and that could be one less reason for people to not be able to vote.  It's a nonpartisan effort. Anyone who shows up to the locations of where serving food gets a meal. 

The goal is to dole out 50,000 meals on Election Day. The math for us is pretty simple. The more money we're able to raise, the more meals we'll be able to serve. People can visit feedthepolls.org and donate today.  

Leave us a voicemail @ 848-863-9917

to submit your idea to How Cool Is This?

Nick:  Okay, Brian, how cool is Feed The Polls?

Brian: This is a cool idea. I love food.

Nick Do you love voting too? Because with this idea, you get both at the same time.

Brian: Yeah. Voting is fine. It should be easier, and this is something that makes it easier.

Nick: I do really like this idea too, especially as we continue to unfortunately see longer and longer lines at the polls. I saw this video of a guy who waited over 10 hours in Atlanta, and he spent the majority of the time just watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on his phone, which is great.

I love Curb, great show, but you know, if I had to wait 10 hours somewhere, I think I'd hit up a few different food trucks.

Brian: Yeah, but then you would lose your spot in line. So that's probably why he waited 10 hours.

 Nick: I feel like they need to establish some sort of line savings system.  

Brian: How cool was it for [Michael] to raise money through our podcast?

Nick: You know, in this case I totally support the desire to just kind of blatantly raise funds through our platform.

Brian: Yeah, he'll probably make more money through this than we do, which is cool.

Nick: It's especially cool because that money is going to a good cause, a better cause than us continuing to make a podcast.

If you had to choose something to eat, either before or after you voted, what would it be?

Brian: Probably, like, a hot dog?

Nick: Mm, nice and American, exercising your right to vote, eating a hot dog. I think that goes well together. 

Brian: What about you?

Nick:  I do love a good funnel cake, although I'm worried that the powdered sugar might get on my ballot and render it useless. 

Brian: They say restaurants and food are in their DNA… how cool was it for a company to design something like this?

Nick:  Potentially that means that it will be more effective than say someone like you or I, that has absolutely no experience with food service, trying to set up a Feed The Polls operation.

Brian: Yeah. I think if you have the infrastructure to accomplish something like this, then it's very cool to go do it. 

Nick: I don't think everyone that has restaurants in their DNA should be expected to feed everyone at the polls, but I am happy that this group is choosing to do so.

Brian: Is that something that happens generationally or do you have some type of injection?

Nick: I think it's passed on through the mother's side.

Brian:  This is another one of those ideas that it's cool that they're doing. It's not cool that they have to do it. And I'm not saying that the government should be giving us food. The government shouldn’t provide a representation system that requires people to wait in line for six hours.

Nick:  I don't think I'd want to eat the government food if they gave it to us anyway. 

Brian: But theoretically, we the people are the government. So this is a manifestation of democracy in action.

Nick: I think the founders had food trucks in mind when they wrote the constitution.

I think this is a cool idea. I think this is something that, you know, honestly, I might donate to.

Brian:  How cool is it for our listeners to donate?

Nick:  I think if we believe in the cause, if we say it's cool, then I think it makes sense to ask our listeners to donate as well. So I think you should donate to this. 

Brian: Yeah, I think I will too. Let's say $10 each.

Nick: Yeah, I think that's a good goal.

Brian: All right. 

Nick: So, if you have any ideas, whether or not they relate to food trucks, leave us a voicemail at (848) 863-9917.

Brian: And go check out The Infatuation for cool restaurants. They're, you know, they're doing this for you. You can do something for them.

 Nick: It's only fair.

Brian: Thanks for listening.

If you want to join in making sure that no one goes hungry this Election Day, you can donate to Feed The Polls here.  Or, if you live near Philadelphia, Denver, Miami, or Phoenix, you can help prepare and distribute meals.

We’re running daily episodes featuring your ideas about voting, democracy, and politics until the US presidential election is decided. To get your idea on the show, leave us a voicemail at (848) 863-9917. 

Follow The Infatuation and The Migrant Kitchen on Twitter.

Listen to a 5 minute episode of How Cool Is This? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you find podcasts.