HALIFAX -- Haligonians can have professional meals delivered to their door and help feed other Nova Scotians at the same time, thanks to a new initiative.

Chef Colin Bebbington has teamed up with East Coast Lifestyle and McKelvie’s Restaurant to create Dine Together Halifax.

“What we are doing is offering take-and-bake style meals with free delivery to your home, and curbside pickup available, at $12 and under a meal with all profits going directly to Feed Nova Scotia,” says Bebbington.

The group sold 100 portions of mac and cheese in just 14 hours in the first week of the program.

They post their menus on Facebook every Monday. This week they’re offering a shepherd’s pie, a vegetable stew, and a triple-chocolate brownie.

“We do have a jot form in there, so if you go to our Instagram or our Facebook, you can just follow that form there and place your orders online,” says Bebbington.

“When we posted our second menu we sold out 90 per cent of our items within the first six hours.”

Bebbington says a social media post by the London, England restaurant he works at was the inspiration behind the initiative.

“I was coming home during these times and I sort of saw on Instagram that they were producing 1,200 meals a day for the NHS (National Health Service) staff there in London and my family in Chicago was producing meals for their community as well. So we wanted to find a way to put something together for ours. Once I reached out to my partner with this idea, he told me how to make it all happen and we went from there together,” says Bebbington.

“The first thing I heard on the radio were multiple ads talking about the conditions of Feed Nova Scotia and it kind of hit me immediately how impacted they probably are by this (the COVID-19 pandemic) and how long of an impact this could have on them.”

Karen Theriault is the director of communications for Feed Nova Scotia. She says, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization was distributing about $1 million worth of food every month to 141 agencies across the province.

“It is only because of support of projects like this that we’ve been able to maintain that support,” says Theriault.

Bebbington says he wants to keep the Dine Together Halifax program going for as long as possible.

“Whether I have to go back to London for work or not, when I am home again, the charity work does not stop there. It’s always going to be needed.”