Statements
Mission
Giving Kitchen's (GK) mission is to provide emergency assistance to food service workers through financial support and a network of community resources. Our vision is a food service community where crisis is met with compassion and care. Our promise to food service workers is stability.
Giving Kitchen is a crisis mitigation resource for food service workers nationwide who work in restaurants, catering, concessions, and food trucks. They can apply for assistance in English or Spanish by submitting a pay stub, a financial overview, documentation of their crisis and the expected time missed from work. We focus on homelessness prevention, mental and physical health support, and disaster aid. Since inception we have provided more than $7.7 million in financial assistance and assisted more than 11,000 food service workers in crisis.
Giving Kitchen has three core programs: 1) a call center for food service workers in crisis that delivers direct client services through a financial assistance program and a referral services program offering referrals to partner organization and pro-bono care from our network of individual providers, 2) a partnership program that leverages relationships with health care facilities to host mental and physical health fairs for food service workers, 3) nationally relevant resources for food service workers across the county, like our free QPR Suicide Prevention training program.
Background
Giving Kitchen was inspired by the outpouring of love and support when Atlanta chef Ryan Hidinger was diagnosed with stage-IV gallbladder cancer in December 2012. Ryan passed away in January of 2014, but the impact of his life is profound, and his legacy is growing. Giving Kitchen was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in May 2013 to "help people like Ryan" and has become an important part of our community providing emergency assistance to food service workers - to do for others what the community came together to do for the Hidingers. Since inception, Giving Kitchen has served 11,000+ food service workers and provided $7.7+ million in emergency assistance.
Giving Kitchen was founded in Atlanta, GA, and now serves the entire United States, with Tennessee being its first expansion area in early 2021. GK's first Tennessee client was Nate F., a bartender who lost his home and all his belongings in the 2020 Christmas Day Bombing in Nashville, TN. He asked for help from Giving Kitchen and received financial assistance to get him back on his feet. Click the link to watch Nate tell his story. https://vimeo.com/585367564
Impact
GK serves food service workers (FSW) in Tennessee and across the United States who work in restaurants, catering, concessions, cafeterias, food trucks, bars and taprooms. They can apply for assistance in English or Spanish by submitting a pay stub, a financial overview, documentation of their crisis and the expected time missed from work. Our programs provide relief during a time of unanticipated crisis. 40% of all households served by GK have children living at home (avg 1.92/household) and we frequently prevent evictions (76.3% report GK helps them avoid eviction). Assistance helps an average of nearly 1.42 additional people - a spouse, child, other family member or adult living in the home.
Since inception, GK has provided $7.7+ million of emergency assistance to 4,500+ food service workers and 7,000+ household members, plus another 7,000 received referrals through our Stability Network. 40% of households served by GK have children living at home (avg 1.92/household). Assistance helps an average of nearly 1.42 additional people - a spouse, child or other family member or adult living in the home. In 2022, we provided $2.1M to 1071 food service workers facing a crisis and 1,793 resource referrals to food service workers who either didn't qualify for financial assistance or needed more help. Our 2023 goal is to serve 1,500 FSWs in crisis and provide $2.1+ million in financial assistance.
GK tracks the number of clients supported through financial assistance, number of people in each household, total amount distributed and stability network referrals. We collect psychometric data from clients around economic self-sufficiency, depression/anxiety/pain, bullying/harassment, eviction, utility disconnection, and late fees at the time of the application and 30-45 days after being awarded financial assistance. We look to meet or exceed previous data which shows that assistance from GK stabilizes finances and prevents loss and homelessness.
Highlights of this data from 2022 are:
87.0% agree GK prevented client from a late fee
78.2% agree GK prevented client from receiving an eviction notice
76.3% agree GK prevented client from eviction
78.9% agree GK prevented client from at least one utility disconnection
73.3% agree GK prevented client from experiencing homelessness
72.5% agree GK prevented client from hunger
GK financial assistance is helping, especially around avoiding evictions, skipped meals, and generally helping people get back on their feet. When you help stabilize a FSW facing an unexpected crisis, it is likely you're providing support for an entire family. A family that gets to stay in their home, children that stay at their school and don't have to live at an extended stay hotel. The receipt of emergency assistance has the potential to change lives, not just by stabilizing finances and preventing loss and homelessness, but by allowing those who are facing hardship to sleep easier as they navigate an unexpected emergency.
Every $1 spent by GK to prevent an eviction saves our client $1.65.
We serve any food service worker in crisis crisis with financial need, regardless of gender or race. GK began serving TN in 2021. We have made major inroads into the Spanish speaking and Hispanic communities nearly doubling the historic average of both that population, as well as Black/African American clients in Q1 2022.
Needs
Giving Kitchen's five most pressing needs are:
1- Giving Kitchen continually works to inform and promote food service workers about our "no strings attached" services for when they are facing an unanticipated crisis. Partnerships with food service vendors, other nonprofits and marketing help with this work, but we know there are always workers who are unaware of us.
2- Giving Kitchen, especially in Tennessee where we have only been working for a year, is working to find and create partnerships with other community resources to be able to provide referrals and warm hand offs to our clients that either need more or do not qualify for financial assistance.
3- Giving Kitchen continually looks for funding resources to support our work of assisting food service workers facing an unanticipated crisis.
4- Giving Kitchen is actively looking to expand our board of directors and also fill the roles of our soon to be formed advisory board.
5 - Giving Kitchen's 2021-2025 strategic plan anticipated growth to five states, but beginning in early 2022, we began serving the entire US while we focused our marketing, fundraising and partnerships to 7 southeast states. We look for help to expand our network both regionally and nationally.
CEO Statement
Giving Kitchen is a James Beard Award winning nonprofit organization serving food service workers in crisis. Since 2013 we have provided nearly $7.7 million dollars in financial assistance to food service workers in crisis and served over 11,500 clients with a specific and measurable service.
87% of our financial assistance clients report that we prevented an impending eviction. 73.3% of our financial assistance clients report we prevented homelessness. 72.5% of our financial assistance clients say that they didn't have to skip meals to pay bills. We have prevented over thousands of children of food service workers from being evicted from their homes. Our resource pages, curated community resources for food service workers in crisis, have hundreds of thousands of page views. Our Stability Network referral program provides thousands of referrals a year and offers any food service worker in crisis an opportunity for a consultation with a case manager.
In 2022 we served over 2,900+ clients. Over the next five years, our goal is to serve 16,500 clients annually by 2026.
Our first ten years, impressive by any measures, are just the beginning. We've created a "proof of concept" and now we're genuinely excited, terrified, thrilled and humbled to grow and serve the state of Tennessee, along with any food service workers in crisis throughout the United States.
As we've expanded into Nashville, Tennessee, we've spoken to hundreds of food service workers who are thrilled beyond words that Giving Kitchen is "on the way." At the same time, for many who have spent their career in food service, they share a painful revelation. They speak of friends who could have used Giving Kitchen in the past, what their lives could have been. I know the feeling. I grew up in food service. My mom and dad own a restaurant in downtown Rome, GA and I can name three people whose lives would have been dramatically different if Giving Kitchen had existed.
Thank you for the opportunity for tell Giving Kitchen's story and support our work.
We look forward to ensuring that every kitchen in Tennessee is a Giving Kitchen.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Emergency Assistance (Food, Clothing, Cash) |
| Secondary Category: | - |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
Giving Kitchen serves food service workers facing an unanticipated crisis, such as accident, illness, injury, home disaster such as fire or flood or death of an immediate family member, throughout Tennessee.
| TN |
| Other |
