When the pandemic caused businesses across the globe to shut their doors, it thrusted millions into food insecurity but many people of all walks of life did not hesitate to help in any way they could. Canada Restaurant owner Imran Javaid sprang into action within weeks, offering meals to anyone who was hungry. He began with about 35 free meals a day and now hands out 100 meals daily. Over the last year he has provided over 32,000 meals with the only request that people wanting a free meal let the restaurant know in advance.
Javaid partnered with local businessman Varinder Bhullar, whom he met through mutual friends and his Edmonton restaurant, Dil-E-Punjab, had catered some of his business events. Bhullar is president of Green Scholars of Alberta, an Edmonton non-profit organization that runs summer camps for kids to learn more about their Punjabi and Gujarati cultural roots. He reached out to Javaid when he saw people struggling with the COVID-19 lockdown early in April 2020, especially people who didn’t have enough money for food while they waited for financial help from the government.
“It’s heartbreaking when someone says, ‘I just could not afford to eat. We all have to hang in there together and make sure we stick together and help each other” Bhullar said. Javaid’s restaurant was initially closed during the lockdown for renovations but after hearing Bhullar’s idea, he finished the work and served the first free meals on April 10.
Now, the cost of the meals are partially covered by community donations and provincial government assistance. The giving goes beyond the restaurant as many who were helped have found jobs and make donations to help. Bhullar said other organizations, restaurants and community members have reached out to help.
Christina Usborne met Bhullar while volunteering at the Old Strathcona Peace Camp last summer. After it was closed, she wanted to continue to help, so the two partnered together. Through donations from residents and other restaurants, she now delivers over 100 meals a week to people who are experiencing homelessness.
The hope is one day there will no longer be a need, but as long as people are hungry, Bhullar wants to help. “It tells me there is a lot of poverty out there, a lot of hunger. A lot of people working that are on benefits but not enough to survive,” he said.
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Million Gardens Movement (MGM) is a charitable and educational initiative that hopes to put a garden in every household—whether that’s on a fire escape, in a window box, or as part of a community garden initiative—and fresh fruit and vegetables on every plate. The brain child of Frank Giustra and Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal, MGM puts Little Green Garden units in homes and classrooms for just a $10 donation.
The Little Green Gardens are ready-to-use fruit and vegetable garden beds—and over 5,000 of them have already been distributed. Kimbal Musk explains that each garden bed comes with a customized growing plan and online lessons and activities to support the growing of culturally relevant at-home veggie gardens.
If you’re a gardener, sign up to join the community. Donate $10 to give a garden to a family that can’t afford it, or that lives in a food desert, read and contribute to the blog, and then tell other gardeners about it. With thousands of gardeners already joining up with the movement, celebrities like Harrison Ford, Zooey Deschanel, Nicole Scherzinger, and Kimbal’s brother Elon—are helping spread the word.
We’ve been so humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response and the passion surrounding our mission,” says Frank Giustra. “When Warwick Saint was photographing gardening activists for our launch, activists like Salma Hayek and Jonathan Scott were asking us “What more can I do for the Movement? What else can I do to help get more people involved? That’s a real sign of how dedicated people are to making a difference.”
7,300 gardens in total have been started, including some done out-of-pocket, while 632 have gone into schools to teach kids about gardening and grow a new generation of gardening-savvy adults. “We’ve been able to deliver garden kits to Denver, Detroit, Memphis, and Indianapolis so far,” Giustra said. “We’re working to deliver 5,000 kits in Denver alone in April for Earth Month, and we’re working on delivery plans for cities after that drop. The most successful aspect of the Million Gardens Movement has been the continual growth of an online gardening community,” says Giustra. “Our Movement, just like gardening, is about developing our best aspects slowly and steadily as we grow in numbers towards one million gardeners. Seeing people donate is wonderful because they are helping others garden, and those who donate might also take up gardening.”
Food insecurity was a problem in America long before the pandemic began. One study from 2017 found that 5.6% of Americans don’t have adequate access to fresh food. The benefits of a home garden can significantly reduce these impacts—even something the size of the Little Green Gardens given out by MGM can help. “Our hope is to quickly expand to Canada this year with sights on Vancouver and Toronto,” says Musk. “We hope to expand to Mexico and beyond to make this a worldwide movement to encourage millions of people to grow their own food.”
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As freezing temperatures gripped the US, Texas was left in crisis with thousands left without electricity and heat from an overwhelmed power grid and running water due to burst pipes. Plumbers in Houston have been overwhelmed since the storm wreaked havoc in many parts of the state. A New Jersey plumber saw “a call for help” from Texan plumbers on Facebook, who said they were being overwhelmed by 150 to 200 calls each day. He decided to help so he drove to Houston with a truck full of tools and got to work.
Andrew Mitchell, his wife Kisha Pinnock, and their 2-year-old son, and his apprentice, drove 22 hours from their home in Morristown, N.J., to fix burst pipes for residents of Houston. Before leaving the northeast, the couple bought $2,000 worth of plumbing supplies since they were scarce in Texas. The group arrived in Houston and their first repair was for Pinnock’s sister, who lives in Humble, Texas. She connected them with several neighbors who had been looking to hire plumbers. They quickly enlisted the services of Mitchell’s Plumbing & Heating.
“By the time we got here there were already about four or five jobs lined up from my sister, and we just hit those first and then everything after that has really just referrals from the initial customers, like their friends and family.” Kish Pinnock said once they arrived her husband has been working nonstop locating the damage in collapsed ceilings, frozen walls and – in one harrowing episode – working beside snake eggshells in a crawl space.
Among those relieved to find help was Dedrick Dock of Spring, Texas. He said he’d tried to get at least 15 plumbers out to his house before he heard about Mitchell’s Plumbing & Heating on social media from a friend’s neighbor. Dock and his family had been staying with relatives for more than a week because of a broken pipe in the garage. “We had to relocate for over a week because we needed to get someone out there,” he said. “And of course, with the plumbers here they were already overwhelmed with the work that was going on.”
The group had planned to return home after a week, but Mitchell decided to work until he ran out of material and is considering a return trip to the area if plumbers are still overwhelmed. “Last night, Andrew did not get back home until two in the morning and he was out of here by 07:30 this morning. He’s always been dedicated to his craft” Pinnock says. “A lot of the people we’ve helped were telling us they either can’t get a plumber on the phone or – if they do get one on the phone – the wait to be serviced is three to four weeks out, so they can’t have water during that entire time,” said Pinnock.
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Amid the pandemic, Texans experienced devastating effects of the recent polar vortex that their state is not equipped to handle. Thousands were left without power or heat for days as temperatures dipped and their roads were left dangerous to travel on. Businesses and homeowners are dealing with the damage of burst pipes and lost wages as many areas shut down. But while many families were literally left in the dark, there are always people finding ways to help others.
Raymond Garcia of Houston, Texas, found himself without power at home and decided to use his time helping others. He visited people in his community and helped fix their burst pipes. Garcia said he was inspired by the teaching of his mother, who died recently from COVID-19. “My mom always taught me, if you help and you give to people, God will always bless you,” he said. “And you know what, I’ve been blessed.” When the power outages meant a Foodarama grocery store in Houston could no longer accept credit and debit card payments, an unidentified man began handing out $20 bills to people waiting in the line. It’s estimated that the man who did not want to be identified, handed out nearly $500 that day. Meanwhile, in San Antonio TX, another good Samaritan at the Martini Ranch bar put on a free grill complete with lobster bisque for anyone in need of a meal. “Just grilling away out front to provide some people with a free hot plate,” he said in a social media post. “Stay safe out there San Antonio.”
Chelsea Timmons was making her last food delivery of the day in Austin TX, when her car got stuck on the frozen driveway of Nina Richardson and Doug Condon after sliding on the incline and hitting a bush. Timmons had planned to return home but when she called AAA, all their tow trucks were busy responding to emergencies. Richardson and Condon, strangers to her, offered her their guest room and Timmons ended up spending five nights there. Richardson and Condon worried that even if she made it home safely, she’d still be struggling upon returning to her home that had no power.
Bonnie Valdez of San Antonio posted to Facebook to say that she had found around $620 put through the door of her store after leaving a stack of around 140 water bottles outside of her store overnight for people to take during the crisis. Another Texan, Ryan Sivley said he didn’t hesitate to help when he spotted hundreds of drivers in need on the side of the icy roads in Austin. Sivley used his four wheel drive vehicles to rescue drivers stuck on the side of roads— all without asking for anything in return. “I’ve seen wreckers turning people away because they won’t pull them out due to liability. You need to stay in your car and just freeze to death? If I was in that spot, I would beg and hope that somebody would help me. So that’s what I did.”
Another Houston hero, Jim McIngvale, better known locally as Mattress Mack- opened two of his furniture stores to be used as warming centers. He urged extreme caution for those travelling to the showrooms, and said COVID-19 protocols would be followed, including mask-wearing, and food would be provided. “Anybody who needs it—whether they’re homeless, whether they lost power, whether it’s just wanting to come in and get something to eat—anybody wants to come in, we’re here for them.” McIngvale also turned over some of his stores to be used as evacuation centers during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 so he’s no stranger to helping his community during times of need.
While power has been restored in nearly two million homes, TX remains embroiled in the aftermath of the worst winter storm to strike the Lone Star State in decades. These are just a few examples of good people in the world who, during times of crisis, seek ways to help others even if they struggling through the same crisis. Even the smallest, self-less act gives others hope in the worst times and encourages others who make not think they can make a difference or have much to offer-realize that they can.
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Chicago restauranteur Robert Magiet was driving across town one morning when he spotted a shivering tamale vendor braving the frigid January temperatures of the “Windy City”. He made a spur of the moment offer she couldn’t refuse. Rather than let the woman wearing many layers of clothing to keep warm stay in the cold all day—Magiet bought out her entire day’s supply—close to 10 dozen tamales, gave her a big tip, and sent her on her way.
Magiet loaded up the tamales he’d purchased and distributed them to homeless people. Pleased with the outcome of the morning’s events, Magiet took to Facebook to see if he could continue the trend. “Anyone know of any Tamale Cart vendors that will be out this weekend in the cold weather? I went to Yolanda near Humboldt Park and bought her out so she could go home today. I’d love to do the same for other Vendors and distribute the Tamales to our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Let me know of any leads please” he posted.
In the following days, armed with suggestions, Magiet bought up all the tamales from vendors at three different locations. And again, after generously tipping the sellers whose trade had been severely curtailed by both the weather and the lockdown, he distributed the tamales to people in need. Helping the hungry in his community is nothing new for Magiet.
After opening a Love Fridge community food pantry outside his TaKorea Cocina restaurant this past June, Magiet teamed up with the owners of Fatso’s Last Stand and Jack & Ginger’s restaurants to prep and deliver 1,300 Thanksgiving meals for the needy. After Christmas, he also partnered with Jason Vincent, owner of Logan Square eatery Giant, to man a food truck serving breakfast and lunch to the homeless.
He also partnered with his friend Taylor Hammond, owner of The StopAlong, a Bucktown pizzeria, to ask if he’d be willing to donate his kitchen once a week to help ease food insecurity for families in need. Knowing how much kids love pizza, Hammond readily agreed. “It’s like, I have a restaurant. I have food. I know people who have restaurants and food. Let’s help people who need food.” Magiet said.
Having seen firsthand the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic had on his own industry, he feels lucky to be in a position to provide much-needed relief for those struggling to put food on the table. He says on average he purchases 15 dozen tamales for an average price of $16 a dozen. “At first they are in disbelief. They don’t understand why someone would want to buy so many tamales.”
Magiet plans to continue his tamale runs for the remainder of the winter. Pizzas are still on the table as well. “If somebody in our neighborhood is struggling, we all struggle. I’m not trying to save the world. I’m just trying to help people who need food. If I have the ability to go help somebody, I’m just going to go help somebody. To me, it’s literally that simple” Magiet said.
The food Magiet collects will be distributed to several Love Fridges locations around town, Breakthrough Urban Ministries in East Garfield Park, and to Franciscan Outreach’s homeless shelter in North Lawndale. If you’d like to help, donations can be made to Zelle at 773-807-0057 or venmo: @takoreacocina.
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When the pandemic ground life to a halt in New York City, restaurateur Luca Di Pietro had to close four of his five restaurants on March 15. After a friend offered to pay for meals offered to pay for meals prepared by Di Pietro’s restaurant to be delivered to a New York City hospital. He immediately wanted to do the same for the hospital that treated his son years earlier.
After that first delivery Di Pietro thought, “if there is such a need from the emergency room workers, maybe this could help save my restaurant while we do something good for the emergency room workers,” he said. Di Pietro reached out to other hospitals in New York City to continue deliveries and shared his plans with friends. From that point forward, orders for hospital workers began to flood in to his restaurant.
To organize the ordering process and manage donations, Di Pietro created Feed the Frontlines NYC, a for-profit initiative, to raise funds for his restaurant, Tarallucci e Vino, as well as other local restaurants and to provide hospital workers in the country’s hardest hit city with free and delicious food. Di Pietro and his team have become known as the “lasagna guys” among New York City’s frontline workers. Di Pietro and his team have helped deliver more than 157,000 meals to healthcare workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Supported by generous donations, Feed the Frontlines NYC works with local restaurants to prepare and deliver meals to fellow New Yorkers and has enabled many restaurants to rehire employees who had been laid off.
While most of his restaurants remain closed, he was able to rehire 135 of his own workers. Di Pietro partnered with other restaurants in New York City and lower Westchester County, New York-enabling them to pay their bills and rehire employees as well. In partnership with Di Pietro, the restaurants receive a portion of the donations to make and deliver meals to local hospitals. Each restaurant is given a different amount of money depending on how many meals it can make and deliver each week, Di Pietro says. The restaurant owners coordinate their deliveries with local hospitals and send meals themselves.
Feed the Frontlines has been feeding local hospital workers fighting the pandemic while helping to keep participating restaurants running and their workers employed.“We have … restaurants helping us and delivering food so they can keep their lights on,” Di Pietro says. “It’s morphed into something that I didn’t expect, but I’m very happy to be able to put together supply and demand.”
So far the Feed the Frontlines NYC initiative has raised over $1.26 million to pay for meals, and its success has even inspired others to create their own Feed the Frontlines initiatives in other cities. One of Pietro’s family friends started Feed the Frontlines Marin, that services an enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. The operations team at Divieto Ristorante started Feed the Frontlines Miami after learning of Di Pietro’s initiative. Shawn Wilson, co-owner of Shed’s BBQ and Viga Eatery, started Feed the Frontlines Boston.
One man’s idea had inspired and enabled others to keep their businesses open while helping show appreciation for frontline workers. The pandemic has greatly changed not only Di Pietro’s business but the whole restaurant industry, perhaps permanently. Di Pietro said “This is keeping the lights on for us and others. Otherwise, there would be no business. And with rent due and salaries, for all the personnel basically living paycheck to paycheck, they’re so happy to come in and work on this because everyone is impacted, and they’re happy to be receiving a full salary. It’s been very humbling and it’s been good.”
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The Good Fight Group, a nonprofit started by UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier and his wife Jolie has provided thousands of meals to food banks, provided school supplies, helped build a playground and even supplied a solar powered water well to create a more self-sustainable living environment for the Batwa Pygmy Tribe. The nonprofit raises funds by selling sought after memorabilia they call “Fight Kits” to fans of the sport.
Former Interim UFC Lightweight Dustin Poirier and his wife Jolie began their nonprofit in 2018 and started auctioning off the shorts, jackets, and wraps that Poirier used in dozens of fights. The Good Fight is dedicated to helping underserved communities in their local Acadiana region.
The foundation has raised thousands of dollars since 2018 to impact others, including the young family of fallen LPD officer Michael Middlebrook, and disabled children who didn’t have a playground. The first auctioned kit was from the Poirier vs Eddie Alvarez fight, with proceeds providing 3,000 meals for their local Second Harvest Food Bank. In August 2019, a specially-built playground for children with special needs was built after Jolie heard the story of a young wheelchair bound boy dying wish.
Selling fight kits also provided over 100 women experiencing homelessness with care packages, and 500 children with school supplies & backpacks at Acadian Middle School. Donations to The Good Fight also supported former UFC fighter Justin Wren who now champions long-suffering Pygmy tribes in Africa—providing new water wells, solar power, and 43 acres of purchased land for the Uganda Batwa tribe. Other fighters are donating parts of their kits for auction, including the winner of the UFC main event fight, Michael Chiesa, from Spokane, Washington.
The Good Fight’s first goal of 2021 is to fully fund transportation and providing more tutors for all 6 locations of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana. Currently, the kids have transportation from school to the clubs, but do not have a ride home in the evening—which cuts attendance dramatically. The academic gap for students is huge right now and the Boys & Girls Clubs are trying to give the kids what they need to stay on track to progress to the next grade level. “Project Learn” has been identified as one of BGCA’s targeted programs which provideds homework help, individual or small-group tutoring, regular implementation of high yield activities and school-club-family partnerships. So far The Good Fight has raised over $17,000 of their $105,000 goal.
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IKEA Group has always been environmentally conscious and their latest move of purchasing of 11,000 acres of forest in Georgia that looked like it would be lost to development, shows their continued commitment. The purchase was made to ensure it remains intact and working to suck up CO2 from the atmosphere, the forest was bought by IKEA as part of a strategy to reduce more carbon than it creates through its value chain.
The working forest in the Altamaha Basin is now owned by the IKEA subsidiary, Ingka Group, which has worked with The Conservation Fund, a non-profit that has protected over 8-million acres of forests in the U.S. from fragmentation and development. A working forest is one in which lumber is harvested and regrown—and it’s these forests which often suffer from being broken up into smaller segments and developed, something the Conservation Fund and Inka are ensuring will not happen by creating permanent easements that legally prevent the forest from ever being split up into smaller pieces.
Ingka Group currently owns 616,000 acres of such forests in the U.S. and Europe, while privately choosing to ensure the highest international standards for good forest management. A spokesperson added that “no significant amount” of wood from the forests is currently used in Ikea products.
“Well-managed forests provide essential benefits, including clean water and important wildlife habitat, as well as mitigating climate change. The transfer of these lands to Ingka Investments completes our Working Forest Fund process, through which we identify and buy important, at-risk private forests; develop sustainable harvest and restoration plans; and secure permanent conservation protections to block fragmentation and development,” said Larry Selzer, President and CEO of The Conservation Fund.
Forest stewardship is just one way that the world’s largest furniture outlet is trying to become a carbon-neutral company. They recently announced they would begin buying used IKEA furniture from customers for resale, while electric vans and less carbon-emitting materials are used in both packaging and product. They are also committed to the goal to only use renewable and recycled materials in their products by 2030 and reducing the total IKEA climate footprint by an average of 70% per product, by 2030.
IKEA’s Sustainability Strategy outlines their belief that climate change is no longer a distant threat, but a visible reality and one of the biggest challenges that humanity faces. The IKEA People & Planet Positive strategy describes the sustainability agenda and ambition for everyone in the IKEA franchise system. They say the purpose of the strategy is to inspire, activate and lead others in decision-making and goal setting so that together we can achieve the positive changes we want to see in the world.
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Two 12 year old entrepreneurs have donated thousands to animal shelters from their sales on a successful invention, the Ornament Anchor. Brothers Ayaan and Mickey Naqvi, who live in Shelton, Connecticut, were decorating their family Christmas tree last year when one of their favorite ornaments succumbed to the forces of gravity. The beloved family dog, Zara, whose tail Ayaan describes as an “ornament missile,” may have played a part as well.
While the decoration couldn’t be saved, the brother decided to find a better way to hang ornaments so they’d be truly secure. Using a loop and toggle system, Ayaan created the prototype and presented it for a school project. The reception was overwhelmingly favorable—so favorable in fact, the boys quickly decided to turn their invention into a potential money-making proposition. “My brother and I worked together to design the product, patent it, create an awesome website, calculate profit margins and did our own market analysis.” Ayaan said.
This wasn’t the boys’ first commercial invention attempt. A previous gadget landed the pair and their family on an episode of Shark Tank. While they didn’t cut a deal, it was a true learning experience. From $1,000 in sales in six hours at a local Christmas trade show, the Ornament anchor went on to be showcased on Good Morning America as well as being featured on QVC and Amazon Launchpad. In one year, the brothers’ invention has raked in more than $250,000.
Ayaan and Mickey are determined to pay their good fortune forward by donating 10% of their profits to local animal shelters. “Ever since I was super young, I’ve had a fascination with all of life’s creatures,” Ayaan explained. “My goal is to help as many animals in need as I can.”
While they’re enjoying their well-earned windfall, the boys admit that starting a new business in 2020 has had its challenges. “Running a business with your brother has its pros and cons. But, we make it work and we’re the best of friends always,” Mika’il said. “It’s an amazing journey,” Ayaan said. “With my brother especially. Just to go along and just us together selling our product is really cool.”
Adjusting to distance learning and other constraints of the coronavirus lockdown wasn’t easy. Through the turbulent times, they say they’ve just tried to take things one step at a time and keep a positive attitude because that—along with the love and support of their family—are what keeps them anchored.
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Kazi Mannan, owner of the Sakina Halal Grill in Washington, D.C., has been serving meals to the homeless free of charge since he opened in 2013. In the midst of the pandemic, his restaurant suffered a huge loss in revenue and he reached out with a plea for help by setting up a GoFundMe, thankfully-the world listened. People from all over the world including Bangladesh, London, Haiti and elsewhere made donations. So far $328, 441 has been raised, surpassing his $250,000 goal.
Mannan learned to cook from his mother growing up in Pakistan. She also taught him the importance of helping others. “She would always have an extra plate to give to the neighbor. I prayed to God that if I ever have a restaurant, I will announce on the first day that I will bring in the homeless people”, said Kazi. “You can come in hundreds; I will never say no… you’re welcome to eat free with respect and dignity. We will treat you the same.”
Mannan kept that promise but was heartbroken in July when he could no longer afford to serve free meals. “It just hurts,” Mannan said. “Like, you know, it’s in you that you wanted to give, but your pockets are empty.” He never asks for help but when he realized the uncertainty of the pandemic meant he would have to consider closing his restaurant for good, he took a leap of faith.
Mannan’s kindness for feeding thousands of homeless at his restaurant was recognized by a local news outlet in 2018. Sakina Halal Grill looks like your typical high-end restaurant located just blocks from the White House. During the lunchtime rush hour, many customers flock to the grill for the all you can eat buffet of authentic Pakistani-Indian food. From the day he opened the doors, he welcomes all people, whether they can pay for the meal or not and he hopes to continue to be able to do that.
His latest update on his GoFundMe reflects the type of person he is. “ I am speechless and overwhelmed by your support that my human family saw someone falling and they all came together to help me. This is the type of the world I have been preaching for the last 6 years. Where someone falls and without judgment we help them. You are all God angels on this earth. I pray that God sends countless blessings your way. You made dreams alive again. I will make sure we use your donation to make a difference in other people lives. You all stay blessed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Stay tuned for the next update!”
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