Organization Highlight: Heart of Dinner
For Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month (I know I missed it by a couple of days), I want to highlight an amazing l organization that I found called Heart of Dinner. This organization specifically services elderly Asian people in the city of New York by creating care packages filled with culturally intentional food and lunchboxes with cooked meals. This is to both fight isolation and food insecurity within the community.
They partner with local restaurants and food distributers to get the products that they give away. To support this organization you can volunteer your time and donate produce or food if you live in the area. If you also have a brand and would like to collaborate, you can offer your services.
Another thing you can do if you can't offer a product or don't live in New York is write cards and decorate bags. Me and some new friends decided to support them in this way. I ordered some cards and bags (as well as the cutest tote bag) and invited friends to help me color.
We went to the wind tunnel lab that Duncan works at on Georgia Tech's campus. With some Costco cookies, vegan muffins, a lot of markers, notecards, and some paper bags we got to work.
Those who spoke one of the languages they needed on the card wrote kind words to the people who will receive them with fresh food. Someone who brought along a traditional calligraphy set wrote the name of the organization on all the bags in Chinese. It was stunning.
We all decorated the cards and bags. Some with flowers and others with our favorite cartoon characters (I drew the Kirby). It was a fun time to come together, do some therapeutic arts and crafts, and do something so simple for somebody else.
I know its not saving the world, but it is an easy way to bring someone's life a little joy. If you don't have the money to shop or buy one of their amazing products, you can order some bags from their site or any blank postcards and send them in.
I highly recommend giving either your money, your time, or you artistic talent (no matter how limited) to this amazing organization.
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I have more resources on my "Stop Asian Hate" advocacy page.