Stonington -- A new initiative here is aimed at helping both local restaurants and their employees survive the impact of the coronavirus as well as provide food to residents in need.

Stonington Feeds Stonington, started by resident Nicole Jones four days ago, is asking people to make donations to its gofundme page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/stonington-feeds-stonington.

The organization, which had collected $3,540 as of Monday afternoon in addition to a $600 donation by the Dog Watch Cafe, will use the donations to buy gift cards for local restaurants.

The gift cards will then be given to the Stonington Department of Human Services to distribute to “those that need them most.” Some restaurants in town continue to provide takeout and delivery services.

“We are not a nonprofit organization, just a group of people from the community looking to help support our community in this time,” according to the gofundme page.

“Help Stonington Feed Stonington through this initiative that will help support our local restaurants in this difficult time while also providing meals to our residents that need it the most. Small businesses are the heart of our town and will need as much support as we can provide in the coming weeks. Additionally, local families are already feeling the impact through unpaid time off/loss of work which will lead to more families in our community relying on the services our town provides to help our most vulnerable residents,” wrote the group.