For the past 2 years—since New York went into lockdown—we’ve been cooking healthy and nutritious meals for New Yorker's in need on the tiniest of budgets.
We’re about to hit a quarter of a million meals: not bad for a small group of friends with big hearts who are just trying to do the right thing in our corner of the world. But in honesty,
this year has been super tough for our organization and we’re not sure we are going to make it through the next few weeks. So we want to take a few minutes to share the current climate with you and see if you are willing to help.
WHY FOOD INSECURITY ISN’T “FASHIONABLE” ANYMORE
During the pandemic food insecurity was a hot topic. Everyone was talking about it and everyone wanted to help. The pandemic connected us in ways that we’ve never experienced before. You probably felt that too: perhaps you have supported us or a similar organization in some way in the past because of the connection you felt at that time. But since then, several things have happened. A number of other causes have come to the center of the media—ones that are extremely important and that we support too. But they’ve meant that the fact that people are going hungry in one of the most affluent cities in the world is not news anymore.
Simultaneously, we’ve all been hit by inflation. You and I have both felt it when we’ve gone to the supermarket (the other day I tried to buy a loaf of bread and it was $7). We used to be able to make a meal in our soup kitchen for 80 cents. Now it costs us $2.20 to make the same meal.
At the same time,
New York City has just canceled all its food insecurity programs. There was a program called PFRED that was supporting some of the most vulnerable individuals in our city. It’s been cut because it’s run out of budget. So more people are going hungry than ever before.
WHY WE DON’T MIND BEING OUT OF FASHION
With all this in mind we don’t mind being an unfashionable organization that supports the most vulnerable in our city. We started out just supporting one organization but now we give free food to 65+ organizations across the 5 boroughs of New York. We’ve almost hit ¼ million nutritious, healthy meals since the pandemic started. We’ve had over 1400 volunteers. We’re still catering for vegans, meat eaters, religious preferences, and allergies with our foods. We’re still making creative, chef quality meals (with the belief that just because someone is food insecure, doesn’t mean they should eat substandard food). We’re still representing all the different cultures of New York with the meals we cook. And we’re still a volunteer organization that is fueled by love. We’re basically the little guy that believes that the world can still be a better place if each of us plays our part in making it that way.
If you can support us in any way—large or small—you will be contributing to more than just feeding someone. You’ll be supporting a belief that we can turn things around and make our world a better place by just showing up and doing the right thing when it’s needed.
(We are a 501(c)3 non-profit and all your donations are 100% tax deductible.)
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