The line was long outside Q’s tacos food truck.

Inside owner Alex Quintero is scrambling to cook for hundreds of frontline healthcare workers at Inland Valley Medical Center.

“I’ll take it when I can, you know? Take it when I can.”

Like so many small business owners Quintero has been struggling financially during the COVID pandemic.

“I lost a restaurant we had to close down that we just opened,” he said.

So when the Pechanga Tribe offered Quintero a chance to feed frontline workers at Southwest Healthcare System hospitals in Riverside County, he saw it as a win-win situation.

“Kill two birds with one stone. Help a small business.”

The staff couldn’t be more grateful, especially as these healthcare workers continue to risk their lives to save lives.

“People that continue to step up shift after shift and care for people that continue to come in and it’s something I’m proud of to see those things happen,” said Jared Giles, the Southwest Healthcare System CEO.

For nurses such as Mia Wood, the past 11 months have been rough.

“Not an easy time in our lives,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”

She says Pechanga’s generosity to feed healthcare workers isn’t just about a free meal, it’s also about lifting spirits.

“To see something like this and bring us all outside have some fresh air and just know that people care about us in our community that they care for us just as much.”

Quintero says he’s proud to show these hospital heroes how much he cares.

“I don’t mind feeding 1,300 people in the last two days us for them and them for us.”