• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

FEED THE PEOPLE: HELPING COMMUNITIES, HOSPITALITY WORKERS, AND FAMILIES

Written by KEIKO HIROMI Posted June 29, 2020 Filed Under: COVID, News, News to Us, NEWS+OPINIONS, Photos

Project Restore Us

WORDS + PHOTOS BY KEIKO HIROMI

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced that restaurants could start to open this month, with changing and varying restrictions, as we attempt to inch back toward pre-COVID-19 routines.

But not every restaurant will reopen. Some owners and workers express concerns for lack of proper protections and safety, not only in establishments but also on the way to work and back on public transportation. Among those worried is Tracy Chang, chef-owner of PAGU in Cambridge. Chang has been assisting programs to cook food for healthcare workers, all while working to rehire her employees. Many are the breadwinners in their families, Chang says.

To take on the pandemic challenges among us, Chang collaborates with Project Restore Us (PRU), an initiative that connects untapped restaurant resources to communities. Co-founded by Chang, Dr. Marena Lin, Lily Huang of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, and Chef Irene Li of Mei Mei Boston, the idea started with Lin searching for ways to support workers during the pandemic, and realizing that restaurants have underused resources which could help serve families in need.

“The idea is to link up restaurants, which are currently really suffering in terms of [loss of] revenue, and [labor] unions. These groups are really complementary,” says Lin, a climate scientist, postdoctoral scholar at UCSD, and member of UAW 5810, a union of more than 11,000 postdoctoral scholars and researchers. Restaurants have access to goods at low price points, often in bulk quantities. With years of union organizing experience, they know workers and their needs.

In motion, PRU has been able to create a weekly grocery box for $35 per family. Revenue earned from sales goes to the restaurant and its employees, while additional support for furloughed workers comes from union members who are still employed. Many of UFCW members are in the laundry, restaurant, and domestic-work industries, but the union also represents essential workers who still work at Stop & Shop and in Boston-area hospitals.

In one pairing, PAGU partnered with United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 1445 for a four-week pilot to feed 162 food insecure essential worker families in Somerville, Everett, Malden, and Revere. PAGU employees prepare grocery boxes, while volunteer drivers deliver to furloughed union members in Somerville, Everett, and Malden.

Project Restore Us

In its pilot week over Memorial Day Weekend, the team produced 14,000 pounds of rice, beans, cooking oil, and produce, all funded by the UFCW strike budget. For that haul, Lin and Chang front-loaded the families with 25 pounds of rice, 25 pounds of beans, 1 gallon of cooking oil, 16 pounds of masa, and 16 pounds of produce (garlic, ginger, onion, potatoes, oranges, bananas) in the first week, then from the second week onwards mostly delivered produce. Lin says that by delivering a bulk of staple during the first week, the families can plan better. At the same time, it helps to cut down the labor for restaurant workers and reduces the number of store visits for families, thus reducing the chance of exposure.

“We live in the United States of America, and to see how many people have issues with food [is] just unbelievable.” Kevin McGaffigan of Local 1445 talks about the program after making deliveries in Somerville with his wife, Kathleen, who works at Stop & Shop full time. “I would have never thought I would be in this situation. These are hard-working people.”

Chang and Lin say the model they are utilizing helps communities as well as restaurants. Grocery distribution, in some form, may be part of the future for restaurants. Currently, Pagu offers takeout/delivery food and some home groceries—fresh produce, pantry staples—for contact-free pick-up. Whatever it is, restaurants need to find creative ways to bring in more revenue, so they can rehire their workers and stay open. Citing her safety concerns for her employees, Chang, who has outdoor space, says that she is keeping PAGU closed to on-premise dining for now.

“It’s important that they (restaurant workers) are taken care of right now,” says Chang, who grew up at the Cambridge restaurant of her grandmother, an immigrant from Taiwan. She continues, “It’s evident that communities they live in—Chelsea, Revere, East Boston, Revere, and Everett—are really hurting.

Project Restore Us

“One of my other employees texted me and said that only one he was able to pick up food was donated from the National Guard. If we were able to employ them to feed their own communities, who we consider our communities … I think that’s how you really take care of those who are the most vulnerable.”


This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism as part of its Pandemic Democracy Project.

HELP DIGBOSTON WEATHER THIS STORM AND CONTINUE PROVIDING ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE

KEIKO HIROMI
+ posts

Keiko Hiromi is a Japanese photographer based in Boston and Tokyo, Japan. Her work has appeared on NYT, People Magazine, Vanity Fair, El Pais, Der Spiegel, Boston Globe, PRI, ABC news, and other publications around the globe.

  • KEIKO HIROMI
    https://digboston.com/author/keiko-hiromi/
    Photo Dispatch: "Ukraine Day" Rally In Boston's Copley Square

Filed Under: COVID, News, News to Us, NEWS+OPINIONS, Photos Tagged With: coronavirus, COVID, eats, news, news to us, Pandemic Democracy Project

WHAT’S NEW

Massachusetts Bill, Victim Advocates Call For Coordinated Date-Rape Drug Response

Massachusetts Bill, Victim Advocates Call For Coordinated Date-Rape Drug Response

Report: Fewer Youth Transition Out Of Massachusetts Foster Care System

Report: Fewer Youth Transition Out Of Massachusetts Foster Care System

State Wire: Activists Urge Congress To Raise Debt Ceiling, Resist Spending Cuts

State Wire: Activists Urge Congress To Raise Debt Ceiling, Resist Spending Cuts

Dancing On Banana Peels: Life On Lifetime Parole In Massachusetts

Dancing On Banana Peels: Life On Lifetime Parole In Massachusetts

Justice Department Completes Vetting Of Rachael Rollins

Justice Department Completes Vetting Of Rachael Rollins

AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”

AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”
  • Over Yondr: Are Cell Phone Pouches At Shows Liberating, Dangerous, Or Annoying?
  • Deep Cuts Brings Sandwiches, Craft Beer, And Live Music To Medford
  • Family Of Woman Killed By Commuter Rail Sues MBTA For Crash Records
  • Daring Greatly: TikTok Star Alden McWayne (aka Gucci Pineapple) On Scheming And Dreaming

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com