Portland meal train rolls out service for trans people recovering from surgery

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Meals On Us PDX Feed thousands of people a week and now they’re taking a new route to feed a new group of people: members of the trans community recovering from surgery.

In addition to the 4,000 people they already help, they’re lending a hand to bring positive awareness to those recovering from gender affirming surgery. The recovery process can be a vulnerable place for individuals and Meals On Us PDX wants to help make it a little easier.

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“The Trans Day of Visibility when there was horrible hate crime that happened last year is why we decided to roll out with it,” says Co-Founder Mark Guzman. “We just needed that extra shove to be like ‘hey we see, you we love you, we welcome you and let us take care of your food for you.’”

They began in November 2022, serving nearly 100 free meals a week across the Portland Metro Area and expect those numbers to grow. They came up with a form to fill out asking the date of surgery, expected time when they will get out of surgery and when they want the meals to start. Recovery can take weeks or even months and people can receive a meal every day until they’re recovered.

“They usually email us saying, ‘hey I’ve only got a few days left. I’m good, thank you so much’ or ‘hey, I have too much food. Some other people are bringing me food. No thanks,’” says Guzman.

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You can receive a variety of food, from Mexican to Italian to vegan-vegetarian. Each person gets about 2 pounds a day. Meals On Us will also provide meals for caregivers.

“The caretaker also is probably running around, making sure that the person recovering from surgery is OK enough to like you rest I’ll do the rest home like laundry, chores, bills things pile up. So, why not put them at ease just a little bit,” says Guzman. “The gratitude that shows even through email makes us feel so much more better and that’s why we continue what we’re doing.”

People can follow this link to learn more or sign up

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