Donate to this project
  • FIG member chef harvesting garlic scapes.
  • Assorted produce and grocery items at partner business Eleven36.
  • FIG collaborators harvesting lettuces for a previous pop up.
  • Groceries ready for delivery.
  • A carload of donations from one of our partner vendors.
project leader
Evan H
location
925 Bergen St
(Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan)
latest update rss
No updates yet.

the project

We're FIG (Food Issues Group), a collective of chefs, farmers, educators and hospitality workers of all kinds who have been organizing together since 2015. In response to the current crisis moment, we're leaning into the trust and infrastructure we've built to redistribute resources in ways that reinforce ongoing relief efforts.

Our Frontline Community Food Relief initiative matches independent food businesses in our network with grassroots and membership-based organizations in New York’s hardest hit communities and neighborhoods — namely, those serving LGBTQ+ youths, immigrant food workers, domestic workers, people experiencing housing insecurity, and out-of-work food workers in our immediate restaurant families. 

Through these relationships, we're sourcing, cooking, and delivering thousands of meals to folks in need — and we're raising funds in order to do more.

This initiative aims to not only ease hardship now, but support FIG's vision of a more equitable food system.

the steps

We're raising funds to support the following work: 

  • Boost the capacity of currently suffering independent food businesses to contribute to relief efforts, while supporting their teams with diligently regulated, safe, and reliable work environments. 
  • Increase buying power to support small local producers, who continue to grow food for our region through this crisis.
  • Focus on neighborhoods with limited access to reliable, safe, and healthy food by providing home and community food deliveries, thereby supporting shelter-in-place efforts and reducing the risk of exposure in these communities which are already experiencing high rates of the illness. 

Some of our grassroots and community partners include:

  • Street Vendor Project
  • Ali Forney Center
  • Partnership with Children
  • Movement for Justice in el Barrio

Our FIG Network is both wide-ranging and deeply connected. Our currently-engaged food business partners are:

  • The Awkward Scone
  • The Pixie & The Scout
  • Eleven36
  • Samesa
  • Egg
  • Brutus Bakeshop
  • Woldy Kusina 

Some examples of ongoing successful relief efforts that we have already established:

  1. Preparing ready-to-eat meals for 150+ community members at Ali Forney Center twice a week.
  2. Preparing ready-to-eat meals with ingredients donated from existing FIG network partners for 50+ members of Partnership with Children.
  3. Twice-a-week no-contact home deliveries of prepared meals and groceries in partnership with the Street Vendor Project, to 50+ households across four boroughs.
  4. No-contact home deliveries to 50+ individuals — friends, family, and co-workers — affected by job loss in the hospitality industry.

We are ready to expand these efforts to reach more communities and individuals! And we need more resources to do so.

why we're doing it

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, FIG functioned as a nascent infrastructure of a decolonized, community-controlled, regenerative, and resilient food system. As a network of culinary professionals with deep and varied experience throughout the industry, we worked together outside of the conventional containers for food service. 

In this current climate of systemic fractures and urgent need, FIG is uniquely positioned to support and guide cooperative efforts for worker support, food sourcing, production, and distribution. 

FIG has identified two immediately critical areas of work: 1) creating more humanity and transparency in our food system, and 2) working with and for previously underserved individuals and communities. 

FIG aims to reorganize the food system as it recovers with our vision of a more humane and transparent food industry. This vision guides the way FIG is managing the responses and changes of our businesses and organizations in the present moment — so that justice, solidarity, cooperation, and sustainability are baked into the recipe of relief work. Of equal importance, FIG is committed to leveraging our relationships and knowledge to prioritize those who are experiencing harms from structural oppression, lack of media exposure, economic insecurity, digital access, and language access.

 

budget

Disbursed budget:

Food Procurement - $8,000

We have been able to receive and utilize donations from our existing vendor relationships, for which we are deeply grateful. And while we are grateful for additional food donations, to make this effort truly viable, and to ensure a resilient local food system on the other side of this crisis, we feel it is critical to purchase as many of our ingredients as possible from the regional farms that feed us. We are currently feeding 150 families weekly (over the course of a month: over 2500 meals worth of food). 

Food Workers - $3,000

We’ve been fortunate to have the time and labor of chefs and food workers donated to prepare food for this effort, but as everyone knows food workers are an extremely hard-hit, and previously vulnerable, population. We need to raise funds to pay these workers for the labor they are willing to undertake in order to help feed those in need.

Delivery Efforts - $2,000

Some of those same kitchen workers making the food are also taking on delivery roles in this effort. We’ve also teamed up with members of our partner organizations to help us coordinate deliveries, which also serves as a way for these individuals to make some money to support their families’ additional needs. We need money to pay these drivers not only for expenses like gas but also for their time and role as pollinators in this project.




TOTAL RAISED = $13,500.00 $13,500.00
ioby Platform Fee waived $35.00
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $291.30 $291.30
TOTAL TO DISBURSE= $13,208.70 $13,173.70

Original budget:

Food Procurement - $8,000

We have been able to receive and utilize donations from our existing vendor relationships, for which we are deeply grateful. And while we are grateful for additional food donations, to make this effort truly viable, and to ensure a resilient local food system on the other side of this crisis, we feel it is critical to purchase as many of our ingredients as possible from the regional farms that feed us. As mentioned, we are currently feeding 300 individuals twice a week (over the course of a month: over 2500 meals + a bi-weekly supply of groceries for 50+ households). However, we anticipate a significant increase in home meal and grocery delivery in the coming weeks, and want to be prepared to meet that need. 

Food Workers - $5,000

We’ve been fortunate to have the time and labor of chefs and food workers donated to prepare food for this effort, but as everyone knows food workers are an extremely hard-hit, and previously vulnerable, population. We need to raise funds to pay these workers for the labor and risk they are willing to undertake in order to help feed those in need.

Delivery Efforts - $3,000

Some of those same kitchen workers making the food are also taking on delivery roles in this effort. We’ve also teamed up with members of our partner organizations to help us coordinate deliveries, which also serves as a way for these individuals to make some money to support their families’ additional needs. We need money to pay these drivers not only for expenses like gas but also for their time and role as pollinators in this project.

 

PROJECT FUNDING NEEDED =$16,000

ioby Platform Fee-waived

ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%)$495

TOTAL TO RAISE =$16,495

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donors

  • The Exley
  • Leah C.
  • Anonymous
  • Joshua K.
  • emi t.
  • Anonymous
  • Zack W.
  • Chris B.
  • bennett s.
  • John Hanczor
  • Amelia Tarpey
  • Matching Donation
  • Karen G.
  • Nora B.
  • Hunter Z. (BLK PALATE FAM MEAL Fund)
  • robin L.
  • Liz
  • Erica R.
  • Anonymous
  • Esther B.
  • Elona
  • Jenny L.
  • J&G C
  • Samantha S.
  • Preston H.
  • Anonymous
  • Matias & Alejandro
  • Joe and Colleen
  • Nancy I.
  • Deborah B
  • Maya K.
  • Lukas V.
  • Jessie L.
  • Jozi's Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Tony
  • Anonymous
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  • Morgan C.
  • Anonymous
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  • Anonymous
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  • Corey
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  • Kate B. FIG 4 EVA
  • Ashton C.
  • Lily Pace
  • Steve V.
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  • Heather B.
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  • Kristin H.
  • RB
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  • Leah R.
  • Anonymous
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  • Anonymous