Uptown Flavors Gave Pottstown Kids Free Lunches

Photo by Evan Brandt

Uptown Flavors owner Zahmere Trott, left, and chef Pierre Newton with prepared lunches the restaurant has been giving away free to school children in the past few days.

Zahmere Trott says he "grew up in public housing and there were not too many people feeding us."

Now the owner of Uptown Flavors, a soul food restaurant that opened on South Keim Street nine months ago, Trott said he knew as soon as Gov. Wolf announced the closure of public schools to stem the spread of coronavirus, that some Pottstown kids would go hungry.

Photo by Evan Brandt

Uptown Flavors owner Zahmere Trott and cook Pierre Newton

behind the counter at the South Keim Street restaurant.

"I know a lot of them really depend on those meals in school and a lot of their families can't afford to suddenly start providing that extra meal," said Trott.

He couldn't afford it for long either, but he did his part in the first couple of days until the school district was able to get its food distribution up and running. Some donations helped.

Kids got chicken breast, rice and string beans.

In just two days, Uptown Flavors provided free lunches for 216 children, not counting the ones he served yesterday. He got some help from the folks at Donut NV, which donated 75 bags of food to the effort.

"We actually were talking about it when we saw that Rocky was doing the same thing over at Little Italy and we said, 'let's do that too,'" Trott said.

Right now, Trott says, he is looking for partners to get the effort up and running again.

In the meantime, his restaurant is open for take-out.

Like so many local Pottstown restaurants, the coronavirus-driven shut-down of dining has hit them hard. But you you can order from Uptown Flavors and head in for a pickup. The menu can be found online on Facebook.

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