Support Quesadillas Tepexco
Donation protected
My brother Filimon and I are reluctant to ask for help, but as we get into the fifth month of the pandemic we’ve realized that we have to. Our street food business was just starting to provide us an income when the pandemic hit, but with lock-down that has stopped. We’ve been scraping together rent but it’s getting harder, and our internet has been cut off because we couldn’t pay. We were trying to be our usual brave and hopeful selves, but losing our internet was a wake up call, and we need to ask for your help.
Our initiatives with the business – forward contracts and the share a meal program – have helped keep us housed – but they’re not enough, which is why we’re asking for your support.
The share a meal program is that you buy one meal for yourself and you buy another one for someone in need. The profit that we received from the purchase orders allow us to keep running our business and at the same time feed others. At least that was the plan. At the beginning it was a success, but as the pandemic worsened people stayed in their homes more. The share a meal program became just a share. People donated meals without purchasing anything. This meant that we were just making meals at cost without making any money. To put things in numbers, people have donated over 600 meals, but only 30 were paired with a purchased one. This means we only made profit on 30 quesadillas in this program.
We didn’t complain and we simply kept working on with our mission to feed the community. As part of these efforts we spearheaded the set up of the East Hollywood Community Fridge. This fridge has seen over 1,000 pounds of food pass through its doors in the first two weeks. We also started weekly cookouts as part of this outreach. These cookouts are possible thanks to the donations of the community. We’ve fed over 200 people in the first two grills, funded by the community and staffed by us and friends, all volunteering. Again, we don’t make money with these cookouts either, but we believe this is the right thing to do.
Quesadilla Tepexco is community oriented. From a very early age, our dad taught us how to farm using native practices. We donate our time and knowledge to help make the East Hollywood Community Garden a success. When the pandemic started, we doubled our efforts and opened Victory Garden beds. The communal garden it is currently producing over 20lb pounds of food every day.
We have done work for the community while facing our own personal economic burdens. For the most part our struggles have been kept under wraps. Last week they cut our internet because we haven’t paid over the last 3 months. We also have no way to get money for our next rent. We really like cooking and we want to keep doing it for the community, but obviously we cannot do it if we are homeless.
We can’t wait to get back onto the streets making our quesadillas. In the meantime, our work in the community continues like always. Thank you for helping us stay housed and to keep serving our community.
Our initiatives with the business – forward contracts and the share a meal program – have helped keep us housed – but they’re not enough, which is why we’re asking for your support.
The share a meal program is that you buy one meal for yourself and you buy another one for someone in need. The profit that we received from the purchase orders allow us to keep running our business and at the same time feed others. At least that was the plan. At the beginning it was a success, but as the pandemic worsened people stayed in their homes more. The share a meal program became just a share. People donated meals without purchasing anything. This meant that we were just making meals at cost without making any money. To put things in numbers, people have donated over 600 meals, but only 30 were paired with a purchased one. This means we only made profit on 30 quesadillas in this program.
We didn’t complain and we simply kept working on with our mission to feed the community. As part of these efforts we spearheaded the set up of the East Hollywood Community Fridge. This fridge has seen over 1,000 pounds of food pass through its doors in the first two weeks. We also started weekly cookouts as part of this outreach. These cookouts are possible thanks to the donations of the community. We’ve fed over 200 people in the first two grills, funded by the community and staffed by us and friends, all volunteering. Again, we don’t make money with these cookouts either, but we believe this is the right thing to do.
Quesadilla Tepexco is community oriented. From a very early age, our dad taught us how to farm using native practices. We donate our time and knowledge to help make the East Hollywood Community Garden a success. When the pandemic started, we doubled our efforts and opened Victory Garden beds. The communal garden it is currently producing over 20lb pounds of food every day.
We have done work for the community while facing our own personal economic burdens. For the most part our struggles have been kept under wraps. Last week they cut our internet because we haven’t paid over the last 3 months. We also have no way to get money for our next rent. We really like cooking and we want to keep doing it for the community, but obviously we cannot do it if we are homeless.
We can’t wait to get back onto the streets making our quesadillas. In the meantime, our work in the community continues like always. Thank you for helping us stay housed and to keep serving our community.
Organizer
Heleo Leyva
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA