A reminder about Pints&union and the Restaurant Workers Relief Program.

As a reminder, Pints&union currently is running two separate businesses out of our small building. The first, our involvement with The LEE Initiative, is described below by the newspaper's reporter Brooke McAfee.

The second runs Wednesday - Saturday, with business-as-unusual; carryout meals and drinks (including adult libations) for the general public.

All of us at the pub thank you for (a) your donations to support our involvement with the Restaurant Workers Relief Program, and (b) your patronage v.v. curbside pickups.

Pints & Union partners with LEE Initiative to feed local service industry workers, by Brooke McAfee (Hanson's Folly)

NEW ALBANY — A downtown New Albany pub is part of a national initiative offering relief to service industry workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pints & Union is among the 19 restaurants across the country partnering with the Louisville-based LEE Initiative for its Restaurant Workers Relief Program. With the help of grants and community donations, the New Albany restaurant is providing free groceries each week to local restaurant workers in Southern Indiana who have been laid off or faced a major reduction in hours and/or pay.

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RELIEF PROGRAM INSTRUCTIONS

Groceries available for pickup on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pints & Union, 114 E. Market Street

1. Bring photo ID, recent pay stub

2. Pull car into alley beside Pints & Union, park near open door

3. Only take a feminine hygiene bag if you or someone in family needs one.

4. Only approach table to pick up bag/box of groceries after volunteer has reentered building. No one except volunteers are allowed in building.

To donate to Pints & Union's relief effort, visit The Lee Initiative. On the drop-down menu on its donation page, choose Southern Indiana (New Albany).

People can donate supplies such as hygiene products through the restaurant’s Amazon Wish List.

In addition to food and monetary donations, they have received other forms of support from the community. Orange Clover in Jeffersonville recently provided them with a freezer, and MESA, A Collaborative Kitchen in New Albany lets Pints & Union use its kitchen when needed, according to (owner Joe) Phillips.

Phillips said seeing small, independent restaurants rallying together to support their communities been a source of hope amid the pandemic, and he is grateful for the support Pints & Union has received from both the LEE Initiative and those in the Southern Indiana community.

“It’s not just the ones in need — the ones who don’t need anything are so supportive of us, and being an operation of four or five people, we’re just a really small outlet that’s been able to have a wide impact,” he said. “We couldn’t have continued to do without the LEE Initiative, Samtec, other donors and all those supported us.”

The LEE Initiative Restaurant Workers Relief Program at Pints&union, and how you can help by donating.

REVISED MONDAY, APRIL 20: The donation portal’s drop-down menus for directing donations have been revised; see below.

I've had a few questions about where to direct donations v.v. Pints&union's participation in The LEE Initiative's Restaurant Workers Relief Program.

Pints&union received a grant as seed money to enable relief for unemployed Southern Indiana restaurant workers. For background, go here:

One of four $10,000 LEE Initiative “Grants for Good” is awarded to Pints&union to support restaurant workers relief efforts in SoIN.

We're doing curbside carryout for the general public out the front door (Wednesday - Saturday), and workers relief from the alley side door (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). These operations are separate from each other. Donations for relief go to relief, not to pub operations.

Donations are being routed through The LEE Initiative web site. Your donation goes straight to Pints&union for so long as this procedure is followed:

• Go to the LEE Initiative web site: https://leeinitiative.org/
• Clock DONATE in the upper right hand corner
• Enter the amount of your donation and click SUBMIT
• Go to the drop-down menu that says "Would you like your donation to go to a specific city?"
• Choose this one: "Southern Indiana (New Albany)":

Then complete the billing information and send. Your donation is tax deductible, and here's what the receipt looks like:

If you'd rather donate by cash, check or in kind, let me know and I'll route you to Joe Phillips: 502-468-9710; mayorbaylor@gmail.com

The LEE Initiative posted the following yesterday on Facebook. It's still amazing to me that we've become a component of a nationwide effort that was organized virtually overnight by The LEE Initiative. It's an amazing group of people.

We are here for you Southern Indiana!

Restaurant Workers Relief Program

Due to the closure of restaurants in Southern Indiana we have an urgent need for assistance for restaurant workers who find themselves suddenly without work, without a paycheck and without a support system.

Independent restaurants are at the center of the vibrant growth in America. For the past decade, we have relied on the stellar hospitality and positive PR of the independent restaurant scene to make New Albany and Southern Indiana a place we are incredibly proud of. But now restaurant workers need your help more than ever. If we don’t take a stand and do something now, there will not be an independent restaurant industry to speak of when the corona-virus crisis is over.

In partnership with Maker's Mark and Chef Edward Lee, the LEE Initiative turned Pints&union (Joe Phillips, owner) into a Restaurant Workers Relief Center for any restaurant worker who has been laid off or has had a significant reduction in hours and/ or pay.

We are offering help for those in dire need of food and supplies. Each night, we will pack to go dinners that people can come to pick up and take home. Dinners are offered on a first come, first serve basis with a limit of one per person unless there is an emergency situation.

We will also have essential supplies on hand. We will limit how much any one person can take of these supplies, but they will be handed out free to those in need. We will continue to offer this program until we can no longer financially support it.

Details of the program are below:

Pints & Union, 114 East Market Street, New Albany
Pick up time is 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday; drive through the alley side.

One of four $10,000 LEE Initiative “Grants for Good” is awarded to Pints&union to support restaurant workers relief efforts in SoIN.

Things started getting just a wee bit crazy on Thursday and Friday, and I trust this will help to explain it. I've tried to keep "official" pub communications separate from this blog and my own social media presence, but these are exceptional times and I want to push the news as far as possible.

Pints&union web site (from expedience, I'm using the beer blog at the web site as non-beer communications outreach)
Pints&union Facebook 
Pints&union Instagram

Here's the scoop.

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Three weeks ago, Chef Edward Lee’s 610 Magnolia restaurant in Louisville KY was turned into a relief center for restaurant workers who’d been laid off or experienced a significant reduction in hours and/or pay because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Virtually overnight the LEE Initiative’s team (Lee, Lindsey Ofcacek, Collis Hillebrand and Kaitlyn Soligan) repurposed the organization to launch the Restaurant Workers Relief Program, providing food, supplies and assistance for restaurant workers in need. Just as quickly, it became a prototype for all of America.

Thanks to overwhelming community support, an anonymous private donor, and the continued generosity of Maker’s Mark, the LEE Initiative almost immediately was able to expand the Restaurant Workers Relief Program to 15 locations nationwide.

Restaurants across the country now are providing to-go meals, groceries, diapers and other essentials to those who need them.

Now, with support from Maker’s Mark, the LEE Initiative has awarded $10,000 grants to four like-minded organizations around the country.

The organizations receiving these grants were selected based on the positive work they’re already doing to support the restaurant industry during COVID-19.

Pints&union in New Albany (Joe Phillips, owner) is humbled to be one of the grant’s recipients, and the only one located in the state of Indiana.

The other three recipients are: Kelly English of Memphis TN (Fino’s Italian Deli); JJ Johnson of New York City (Fieldtrip Harlem restaurant); and Erik Bruner Yang of Washington D.C. (Power of 10 Initiative).

Prior to receiving this grant, Joe immediately pivoted Pints&union to do what’s possible to help people during the COVID-19 situation.

In addition to offering regular carryout/curbside to our customers (which we’ll continue to do), we’ve donated take and bake family meals and distributed groceries to service industry workers, single parents and local non-profits, including Rauch Inc., which provides services to people with disabilities.

Beginning Wednesday, April 8th, Pints&union will offer drive-through grocery service for restaurant workers from 5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on the alley side of our building. Restaurant workers must have their IDs and paycheck stubs as proof of employment.

We’re a small pub and intend to begin the campaign with five-days-a-week relief (Tuesday through Saturday) to start, aiming for seven later if it’s possible.

Note: Curbside carryout service will continue at the front of the building.

Inventory will change weekly or daily as donations arrive and are distributed. Times may vary depending on need and will be posted.

Take away meals are first come, first served and will consist of frozen soups, breads, pickled vegetables and the like. Extending the shelf life of donations and helping the food supply chain minimize waste are our chief goals. We’ll have life essentials on hand as well for those in need (limited supply). All variables are subject to change and we’ll keep everyone posted at Facebook and Instagram.

It must be stressed that the LEE Initiative’s grant is intended to serve as seed money. We need you to donate whatever you can, in cash or in kind, to help keep our relief efforts moving forward.

Go to: https://leeinitiative.kindful.com/

Select campaign: Restaurant Workers Relief Fund

Select amount: ($)

Go to this tab: “Are you funding a chef's grant program?”

Select: Joe Phillips RELIEF

Or, send us an e-mail at pints&union@outlook.com, and let’s get the conversation started. Thanks for your patronage and donations. We’ll continue to help for so long as help is needed.