(WSB file photo)

One month ago, we reported on Grillbird Teriyaki‘s crowdfunded ‘pay it forward’ concept – customers buying gift cards that are in turn given to people in need. Now proprietor Matt Parker has a new idea, and sent us this announcement:

Our Pay It Forward program has been so successful by gifting out warm meals to those in need this Winter. Just in the last month we have already given out over $3,000 in gift cards! This gave me an idea how we can continue this generosity from our amazing customers.

COVID-19 has proven to be a disruptive force in every manner of life. We cannot overlook how this is affecting educators, the ones who are teaching our youth even in these challenging times. Teaching, a very social and interaction-based profession, has been forced into an isolating experience. Educators are working through the struggles, finding ways to adapt their virtual classrooms to fit our new reality and shifting the goal of teaching.

We want to give a meal to every teacher in West Seattle. We will be gifting out these meals to one teacher a day, but if you would like to help us out so we can reach more teachers, you can purchase a gift card in the available amounts on our online store. At checkout, provide the name and email of the teacher you would like this to go to in the NOTES section, and we will send them a e-gift card in that amount.

Alternatively you can email us the name and email of a special teacher in your life that you would like us to send a gift card to and we will add them to a list that we will send out to over time. matt@grillbird.com

If you haven’t been to Grillbird, it’s at 35th/Morgan.