WEST SPRINGFIELD – On April 17, a big green Peter Pan bus pulled up outside the Massachusetts Building on the Eastern States Exposition (ESE) fairgrounds.

The doors to the luggage compartment were opened and inside were bags filled with food for the hungry members of the Army National Guard and Brewster Ambulance Center who have been working at the coronavirus testing center at the ESE. These frontline workers were treated to lunch from The Student Prince, courtesy of the bus company’s “Feed the Fight” campaign.

Peter Pan Bus Lines has been delivering lunches to medical personnel and first responders since April 6, said Danielle Veronesi, director of marketing for Peter Pan. The operation is funded by a GoFundMe campaign which began on April 3 and had raised over $21,000 of its $25,000 goal by April 19. Veronesi said CEO Peter Picknelly had donated funds to the cause but wanted to use a crowd-sourcing platform so that the community had a chance to give back.

Veronesi said the bus delivers lunch to different locations twice a day, five days a week. Beginning on April 20, she said the company will start delivering dinner, as well. The food comes from various locally-owned restaurants in the area, but, “the Bean Restaurant Group has been the driving force along with Peter Pan,” she said.

 On the day Veronesi spoke to Reminder Publishing, Peter Pan had fed over 60 people. The previous day, they had delivered to 200 hospital workers at Baystate Medical Center and Shortstop Bar & Grill in Westfield fed all of the fire and police stations in West Springfield, said Veronesi, whose husband is a first responder in town.

“It’s an amazing thing for them to be helping,” said Army National Guard 2nd Lt. Sarah Perry of the bus line’s campaign. “Community is something bigger than yourself. I think this shows that you can have many workforces getting together. It’s good to see us getting together.”

To donate to the Feed the Fight campaign, visit gofundme.com/f/feedthefightwesternmass.