UPDATED AS OF 5/2/20: Across the country, members of our Ambassador Network are involved in causes helping those most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The Foundation understands how a little can go a long way for any organization aiding the frontlines in their local communities, so we decided to allow our ambassadors to apply for immediate emergency mini-grants of $250 to increase access to coronavirus relief efforts in their communities. From Oakland, California to Austin, Texas and Rockville, Maryland to Boston, Massachusetts, the Foundation has already approved several grants to help those from Red Hook help those across the country who need help the most.
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the AFF Directors have been meeting to figure out the best way to serve our communities. The Foundation is currently supporting a number of initiatives in the Red Hook community during this time, and we remain inspired by the ways our Ambassadors continue to show up, listen to those in need, and put collaborative service into action. During times of uncertainty, change, and disaster, it’s critical to stay connected to where we came from, where we currently are, and where we hope to go together. Our hope is to equip our ambassadors not only to the Red Hook community, but their local communities as well.
As our Ambassadors continue to advocate for different causes in their communities during the coronavirus pandemic, the Foundation will keep an updated list of the organizations they are working to support.
Damon Allen is advocating for Homeless and Travelers Aid Society
Damon is advocating for the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society’s Feed and Read Program. The Society packs and distributes bags with food and books for children in the Albany area. They have been busy- continuing to supply over 500 bags per week since the pandemic hit. Damon has been volunteering with this program over the past month.
Jonni Mills is advocating for Rethink Food NYC
Across the country, soup kitchens are balancing two public health issues: the threat of coronavirus and the threat of hunger. As many soup kitchens across the country struggle to stay afloat, Rethink Food NYC is helping tackle this problem by repurposing any unused spaces at their partner organizations to provide to-go meals to those in need. They have also opened their own cafe, The Rethink Cafe in Brooklyn, which provides healthy and delicious meals and grocery items for a low suggested donation. After receiving 19k pounds of food donations from first-time donors, Rethink Food NYC is also now repurposing restaurants with a similar model as the Rethink Cafe through grants, which helps keep the restaurants afloat, the staff employed, and feeds the local community.
Iana Robitaille is advocating for Austin Ed Fund
In collaboration with the Austin Independent School District, the Austin Ed Fund is expanding its services to students and caregivers, including food services, health programs, and remote learning. A staggering 67% of Austin’s public school students qualify for meal benefits and rely on meals provided during the school day.
Betsy Kirtland is advocating for Material Aid and Advocacy Program
The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) is continuing to support and empower community members experiencing homelessness or living in poverty in the Boston area. As the coronavirus continues to take its toll in Massachusetts, many shelters are struggling to stay open and provide resources for the growing number of people they need to support. All donations will go towards providing people with survival supplies, like food and tarps, to help guide people through these challenging circumstances.
Emily Appenzeller, Mia Michaelides, and Nick Ascienzo (AFF Director and Founder) are advocating for People’s Place (Kingston)
Food pantry. Thrift store. Community café. While the organization’s hours might be modified due to coronavirus, People’s Place in Kingston continues to wear multiple hats, ensuring those in need in Ulster County are clothed and fed. The People's Place is a food pantry that has provided over 105, 000 meals in the last 4 weeks.
Mia spent time volunteering with the People's Place in 2016 for her Girl Scout Gold Award project, helping to renovate their "Birthday Closet", which is a service for families who cannot afford supplies for their children's birthdays.
Emily and her mother have volunteered for the past two summers at People’s Place for the Bag Summer Hunger program. This program provides additional breakfast and lunch foods for families with school age children in Ulster County when school is not in session.
Kyla Gabriel is advocating for Smart from the Start
Smart from the Start, Inc. is a trauma-informed family support, community engagement and school readiness organization with a mission to promote the healthy development of young children in low income, underserved communities in the Boston area. Smart empowers families and communities with the right combination of tools, resources and support, to break cycles of chronic school under-achievement and generational poverty. Its coronavirus response includes delivering emergency food and care packages, establishing a crisis intervention fund, telephone counseling, and phone check-ins with families in need.
Elizabeth Ricci and Tessa Rothwell are advocating for Red Hook Responds
Working with elected officials in the Town and Village of Red Hook and the Village of Tivoli, Red Hook Responds coordinates, enhances and supports the existing and new volunteer efforts in the Red Hook area. The organization harnesses volunteers in a centralized location where people work together to maximize the programs already in place.
The Foundation is helping coordinate their fundraising efforts, Red Hook Eats, a sub-committee of Red Hook Responds which will focus on helping with preparation of food and delivery to homebound and ill during a crisis.Funds raised are used to facilitate ongoing, current and future needs in the greater Red Hook community.
Tom Triebwasser is advocating for Sunflower Bakery
Continuing his advocacy that started in 2015, Tom Triebwasser is now advocating for Sunflower Bakery’s initiative to donate baked goods to local shelters and hospital staffs. The bakery has a long tradition of civic engagement, including its Pastry Arts Employment Training Program, which helps people with developmental differences learn a trade (baking) and train them to be self-sufficient.
Emma Donohue is advocating for City Harvest
City Harvest is a food rescue organization that collects rescues food around New York City and delivers it to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other partners throughout the city. They additionally have multiple mobile markets each week to provide free food for food scarce neighborhoods and educational programs that teach participants how to cook with various types of food items that City Harvest distributes. In response to coronavirus, they are adding five emergency food stations in high need neighborhoods to help feed New Yorkers who are struggling to make ends meet given the current climate, ensuring that children and families receive the food that they need with schools being closed, and maintaining their regular food distribution sites which have already seen a 30% increase with the virus.
Aminy Ostfeld is advocating for East Oakland Collective
Empowering and supporting communities of color and individuals experiencing homelessness in Oakland, East Oakland Collective is setting up relief programs in Oakland. From distributing food and sanitary supplies to the homeless and other vulnerable populations, building hand washing stations at homeless encampments, the organization hopes to tackle many poverty-related issues in the East Bay.
Sophie Laing (AFF Director) is advocating for Junta for Progressive Action
Junta for Progressive Action is an organization that seeks to "collaborate with Latinx communities in the Greater New Haven area to advance the social, economic and civi environment for all, while embracing Latinx cultural traditions." Junta has started a campaign for immediate rent assistance for Latinx and undocumented families in the Greater New Haven area. Sophie is a co-director of a medical-legal partnership at HAVEN Free Clinic, which provides healthcare and other resources to uninsured residents of New Haven. As Sophie explains “housing and health care are intrinsically linked, and it feels important for those connected to HAVEN to show support for their patients and their patients' communities during this time.”
Jen Melitski (AFF Director) is advocating for Poughkeepsie Farm Project
About 10 years ago, Jen volunteered with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and she has been impressed ever since by the “amazing things they do in the Poughkeepsie community,” explaining that they are “positive advocates for food justice.” The Poughkeepsie Farm Project has a CSA farm, and runs educational programs about local foods with children in the Poughkeepsie City School District. They also provide fresh, local food to people with food insecurity. The Poughkeepsie Farm Project has been working in many different ways to meet the needs of the community during this crisis, and that includes working with Poughkeepsie schools to help distribute produce and recipes to the community.
Brittany Mosher (AFF Director) is advocating for United Way of Northwest Vermont
United Way of Northwest Vermont supports several critical groups in the area, including the VT Food Bank, AgeWell, Steps to End Domestic Violence, and Chittenden Co. Homeless Alliance. As Brittany describes, United Way of Northwest Vermont “brings together a variety of service organizations and non-profits in Vermont to build synergies and address needs of Vermonters.” Right now, that work includes a COVID-19 response fund campaign for which they are matching donations.
Ali Fraenkel (AFF Director) is advocating for the Ernest and Rose Samuels Foundation
For #GivingTuesdayNOW, the Ernest and Rose Samuels Foundation lanced a $60,000 double-match campaign for COVID relief in DC area children and families. Ali worked with the Foundation to help launch this campaign. The six grantee organizations receiving the funds will be Life Pieces to Masterpieces, Jubilee Jumpstart, Safer Shores, Generation Hope, Dreaming Out Loud, and Mother of Light Center.
Fran Thompson (AFF Director) is advocating for the Rhinebeck Reformed Church Food Pantry
Fran reports that the food pantry run by the Rhinebeck Reformed Church has been seeing more than double the number of people during the pandemic than they normally see. The Church also hopes to be able to help feed school children during the summer months.