Budget
$1,000,360.00
Description
Giving Kitchen's Crisis Support Center provides crisis mitigation services to food service workers through two distinct initiatives: a referral program and a financial assistance program. Our referral program is called Stability Network and it connects food service workers to resources in their community. Giving Kitchen Stability Network clients receive a curated list of resources based on their crisis and are provided with the opportunity for a consultation with Giving Kitchen's support team. Some Stability Network clients qualify for free or sliding scale physical or mental health support. Giving Kitchen's financial assistance program supplements basic living expenses, most often rent and utilities, for a food service worker experiencing illness, injury, death of an immediate family member or a housing disaster like a flood or fire. Financial assistance is provided through checks written directly to the utility company and landlord or mortgage company.

Program Successes
Giving Kitchen collects psychometric data to track our client's overall improvement due to assistance. We measure around: economic self-sufficiency, depression, anxiety, pain, bullying and harassment, eviction, utility disconnection, and late fees. We collect this data at the time of the application and again in a fifteen-day window 30 days after being awarded assistance. Our data has shown that GK is an effective intervention in reducing depression, anxiety, evictions, utility disconnections, and incurrence of late fees. Further, we find that our one-time financial assistance improves some measures of economic self-sufficiency. So far, we have seen a 11.7-15.1% decline in depression scores from the time of requesting assistance to 30-45 days after receiving financial assistance. This outcome is robustly supported by statistical tests. GK financial assistance is helping, especially around avoiding evictions, skipped meals, and generally helping people get back on their feet.
Category
Human Services  - Emergency Assistance 
Beneficiaries
Economically disadvantaged people
Adults
Children and Youth (0 - 19 years)
Long-term Success
We have provided $6.6 million of financial assistance to 4,100+ food service workers and 5,500+ household members, plus 6,100+ received referrals through our Stability Network. GK anticipates providing $2.1 million in financial assistance and helping 1,500+ food service workers in 2022. One-third of all households served have children living at home (an average of 2.05/household) and numerous times per year, we prevent evictions. We estimate we will assist an additional 2,000+ food service workers through our Stability Network referrals. Our estimated reach in 2022 is 3,500 people, an increase of 50%+ over 2021.
Short-term Success
In 2021, GK provided $1.4 million in financial assistance serving 1,199 food service workers including 854 children in their households. These clients and their families were given the gift of not having to worry about keeping their home (more than 70% of our clients are concerned with potential eviction) and instead, could focus on getting through their crisis. Clients facing illness or injury were able to focus on getting well and not returning to work too soon, often extending their recovery, due to worry about paying their rent and maintaining their utilities. For the children in their home (one-third of our clients that have children with an average of 1.87/household), those children get to stay home with their parents coping with a crisis - not forced to move, not forced to live out of a hotel, not forced to change school districts. We also provided 2,110 resource referrals to 1,239 FSW connecting them to more than 350 Stability Network partners and our partner Unite Us.
Program Success Monitored By
GK works to improve overall well-being and economic stability of our clients. We use a stability survey to collect psychometric data and it shows that our one-time financial assistance improves some measures of economic self-sufficiency. It also shows an effective intervention in reducing depression, anxiety, evictions,
utility disconnections, and incurrence of late fees. Providing financial assistance would be helping bridge the gap food service workers need to pay their housing expenses while they are unable to work, thus helping low and moderate income people. Assistance helps an average of 1.23 additional household members (spouse, child, roommates). People who remain in their homes, survive their crisis and keep them from the downward spiral of poverty.
Program Areas Served
Tennessee

Budget
$20,000.00
Description
Giving Kitchen has a partnership program that leverages relationships with health care facilities to host mental and physical health fairs. Pop-Up Doc events provide food service workers, some with their children, free medical services. Some services previously offered include:
-Physicals, including biometric screening and bloodwork
-Flu shots
-AIDS/HIV testing
-Cancer screenings
-BMI testing
-Mediation/breathing/yoga exercises geared towards food service workers, including five-minute exercises that can be done at work
-Free condoms
- Recent Pop Up Docs also had food distribution and COVID-19 vaccines and at home tests

We have a minimum of four Pop Up Doc events planned for 2022-23 including at least one in Tennessee.
Program Successes
Overall, Pop Up Docs are providing medical, dental and other services that food service workers need. With an average of only 20% having health insurance, offering these free services is an important program for Giving Kitchen. We found that physical and emotional challenges are impacting the daily functioning of food service workers that attended the events and 27% of attendees said they were there for mental health resources.

Some anonymous quotes from Pop-Up Doc attendees are:

1. "I am very grateful for the contacts they provided for me and my children."
2. "The physicians were greatly appreciated for those that are uninsured."
3. "I was able to find a massage therapist that helps my aches from working in a restaurant. That was invaluable."
4. "I felt there was a wide variety of doctors and tools available that day."
5. "I got excellent references for low cost health care."
Beneficiaries
Economically disadvantaged people
Adults
Other Named Groups
Long-term Success
We have had approximately 400 food service workers attend our Pop Up Doc events since inception, providing approximately 150 doctors appointments and distributing 1,000 pounds of food. In a survey done at a Pop Up Doc, we found that only 20% of attendees were insured compared to an estimated 38.5% throughout the industry. When asked when the last time they had a doctor's appointment, the mean was 30 months, median: 17.5 months. In addition, 40% of attendees reported moderate, quite a bit or extremely that during the 4 weeks prior to attending Pop Up Doc that their physical health or emotional problems interfered with your normal social activities with family, friends, neighbors, or groups.
Short-term Success
A recent Pop Up Doc was hosted in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, CORE and the Healing Bridge Clinic. Approximately 60 people attended to have doctors visits, receive food boxes and COVID-19 vaccines- all at no charge. We provided 35 COVID-19 vaccines and of those, 84% said they would not have (or weren't sure) if they would have gotten one elsewhere. It was also our most racially diverse set of attendees in Pop Up Doc history.
Program Success Monitored By
All Pop Up Doc participants are sent a survey following the event. Other findings from our surveys included:
- Food service workers are still uninsured at incredibly high rates. This, combined with low wages, impacts their ability to see a doctor.
- There's large racial disparities in insurance rates.
- The most popular services that people came for were direct services (dental, doctor, blood pressure, etc.)
- Physical or emotional challenges are impacting the daily functioning of the food service workers that attended
- 27% of all attendees said that they were there for mental health resources
Program Areas Served
Tennessee

Budget
$25,000.00
Description
Giving Kitchen has created a "tool kit" of nationally relevant selfcare and stability resources available to food service organizations around the country - including free suicide prevention certification through a partnership the QPR Institute, a guideline to address a culture of harassment in a food service establishment and how a restaurant outside Giving Kitchen's current coverage area help us build a Stability Network in their community. In May 2021 and 2022, we hosted "Mind Matters" which included seminars on self-care, substance abuse, mental health awareness, and more. We plan for this to be an annual event.
Program Successes
In May 2021 , GK hosted a month-long campaign called Mind Matters, hosting mindful discussions with industry leaders and mental health professionals in pursuit of destigmatizing mental health conversations. These seminars were broadcast live on Facebook and included topics like self-care, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, substance misuse, and meditation. Giving Kitchen's six seminars (one of which was in Spanish), one panel discussion, and four live dance parties have reached over 10,000 people via GK's Facebook page. From May to April, GK's website saw a 210% increase in Spanish-language food service workers seeking support and a 91% increase in traffic to the Stability Network page.

Regarding QPR Suicide Prevention Training, one attendee said: "Thank you for offering this resource. I manage a large staff and did not know if I would need this tool but was able to refer a manager to the hotline the very next morning after completing the certificate. Immediate impact for my team.
Beneficiaries
People with substance use disorder
Adults
Other Named Groups
Long-term Success
600+ people have completed QPR Suicide Prevention Training, the gold standard of suicide prevention training. The improvement in people's comfort level from before the course to after is stunning. For example, the average (out of 5) goes from 3.06 to 4.25 to "knowledge of persuading someone to get help," from 3.07 to 4.26 on "knowledge of how to get help for someone," from 3.8 to 4.55 to the question "If someone I knew was showing signs of suicide, I would directly raise the question of suicide with them," and from 3.44 to 4.36 in "I feel confident in my ability to help a suicidal person."
Short-term Success
In May 2021 and 2022, we hosted "Mind Matters" which included seminars on self-care, substance abuse, mental health awareness, and more. We had nearly 10,000 views of our Facebook videos for Mind Matters. The programs are so successful we plan for them to be annual events.
Program Success Monitored By
The QPR Suicide Prevention Training includes a pre and post attendee survey of 21 questions that assists in showing program success. With high statistical confidence, the survey results show that talking the hour long QPR Suicide Prevention Training makes a difference in people's willingness to approach and intervene if they suspect a person is in a mental health crisis.
Program Areas Served
National