I can't express enough how grateful I am for my partnership with Connected Chef . Because of them, and an initial grant from Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is currently running for Mayor, I have been able to expand my food access and food justice work in my beloved Queensbridge community.
What started as a few random collaborations, in 2023 Connected Chef co-founder Kim Calichio and I sat down to figure out how we can establish a legit partnership and expand our work while deepening our impact in our neighborhood. The community food hub was born. Each and every Thursday we provide a limited number of free grocery boxes to community members. Boxes are 20-25 pounds and are filled with fresh, locally grown, fruits, vegetables, and grains. The community has fallen in love with this initiative. Last year we also started the 1st ever sliding-scale farmstand in public housing. After a few months, we also got approved to accept EBT/Snap as a form of payment. This move definitely increased access for folks in my community.
It's all been great, really. But today something special happened. On top of the grocery boxes, we were able to provide community members with fresh bunches of collard greens. Man o man. People were elated! One woman keep stating, "I haven't seen collard greens this fresh since I was in the south. I ain't never seen collard greens this green and firm anywhere in NYC. Thank you so much Suga Ray." That made my whole heart smile. She said she would share some with her mother who is currently in a nursing home in Brooklyn. I told her they had to cook and eat together. She agreed. This is what we do this work for.
Please do check out our site, linked above, and consider purchasing your groceries from us and/or donate to help us provide groceries to our people in Queens.
One of the things that also made today's distribution super dope was that I had my lady's youngest son out there volunteering with me. I got to talk with him about food justice and social justice and explain to him the reasons we do this work. That was really, really good.
Our motto is that food is a basic human right and everyone should have access to fresh, affordable produce.
Let's build a better food system together!
Really enjoyed my fruits and made a delicious Eggplant parmigiana for my family and some extended family members Thank you Suga Ray & thank you to Assemblyman Zohran