Los Angeles, CA – May 5, 2020 – Wedbush Securities is pleased to announce that it is partnering with Off Their Plate (“OTP”) to support communities impacted by COVID-19. OTP is an innovative nonprofit which enables small restaurant businesses to provide nutritious meals to the frontline healthcare workers we all depend on and restores economic relief to restaurant shift workers who have suffered significant economic loss from the pandemic. All funds currently raised through Wedbush’s corporate giving program, WedbushCares, will be donated to OTP. In addition, Wedbush Securities will be donating all of its net proceeds from brokerage commissions on Tuesday May 5th to Off Their Plate for #GivingTuesdayNow.
Off their Plate is based on a brilliant but simple model created by Natalie Guo, a Harvard Medical School student and Princeton University graduate with a Wall Street investing background. Founded in response to COVID-19 only six short weeks ago, OTP has raised more than $3 million dollars that will serve over 300,000 meals to the frontlines, and provide $1.7 million of economic relief to restaurant workers.
Off Their Plate is able to make an immediate impact in our local markets heavily affected by the pandemic, currently supporting hospital and restaurant workers in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.
“We are so impressed with the relief effort that Natalie and her team have envisioned and achieved in such a short period of time.” stated Gary Wedbush, Co-President of Wedbush Securities. “The community engagement of these young professionals is inspiring and we are thankful and proud to support Off Their Plate.”
Natalie Guo, Founder of Off Their Plate adds, “We’re so grateful to Wedbush for supporting our commitment to our healthcare and restaurant communities. We help local restaurants restore work and economic relief to their employees in order to provide nutritious meals to frontline hospital teams. Working with Wedbush across a number of our operating cities nationwide enables us to reach even more individuals impacted by COVID-19.”
For more information, and to donate, please visit WedbushCares and Off Their Plate.
About Off Their Plate
Off Their Plate (OTP) is a grassroots movement working to feed frontline COVID-19 healthcare workers nutritious meals, while restoring the jobs of restaurant employees. Healthcare professionals are not only being asked to work around the clock, but also, many of them lack access to nutritious food as cafeterias are closing or severely limiting their offerings and many health systems operate in food deserts. At the same time, this pandemic has left many local restaurants shuttered and thousands of workers without pay. OTP is addressing both of these impacts by raising funds and partnering with restaurants to provide income continuity for their workers and prepare healthy, delicious meals for our healthcare heroes.
Off Their Plate was started in Boston, by Natalie Guo, with generous support and leadership from a coalition of like-minded individuals in restaurants, medicine, education, finance, and more.
About Wedbush Securities
Since our founding in 1955, Wedbush has been a leader in the financial services industry, providing our clients, both private and institutional, with a wide range of securities brokerage, wealth management, and investment banking services; Headquartered in Los Angeles, California with 100 registered offices and nearly 900 colleagues, the firm focuses on client service and financial safety, innovation, and the utilization of advanced technology.