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Showing posts with label The Lee Initiative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Lee Initiative. Show all posts
I've likely said this before, but it bears repeating.
When the pandemic's lock-down doo-doo hit the fan blades, many in the local food and drink business were either catatonic (and understandably so; my empathy for them abounds), or, bizarrely, eager to dismiss hundreds of years of scientific achievement at the drop of a narcissistic and self-serving cap (purely inexcusable, then as now).
That's when the LEE Initiative made the biggest pivot of all and organized in a remarkably short time to help people who were in need.
What a concept.
Joe Phillips followed suit at Pints&union. He put people before profit and ran toward the fire. He converted the business into The Lee Initiative's relief outpost in SoIN. He ran himself ragged during the "business as usual" down time. He wasn't coming in every day and asking whether he was getting the credit and publicity. He did what was right, when it was needed.
Now Joe is doing it again, in conjunction with Steven Cavanaugh, our new general manager. Pints&union has safety protocols and socially-distanced indoor occupancy. We are enforcing safety, and our patrons get it. They know it's better to err on the side of caution during a public health emergency than to be the agent of dysfunction. We know better than to relax, but so far, it's going well.
Speaking personally, it is a joy to be an employee in an atmosphere like this, one of integrity and respect.
Here's what Joe had to say about it in a recent Edible Kentucky & Southern Indiana magazine article.
When the COVID-19 quarantine shut down local restaurants in March, we were devastated and silent. We all knew it was coming, but to know it’s knocking at your door is a very different reality than watching others face it on social media or television. We were shell-shocked for two days—then realized we needed to get back to work, somehow.
Knowing our perishable food would go bad, we donated it to our workers who were suddenly out of work. We needed a sense of purpose; we needed to give back to the workers who have been providing hospitality to our communities every day for years.
Chef Edward Lee and Lindsey Ofcacek, founders of the LEE Initiative, gave us that opportunity with the Restaurant Workers Relief Program. Thanks to a donation from Maker’s Mark Distillery, we gathered essential household items and served hot meals to feed laid off restaurant workers and their families every day. There are no words to fully describe what it felt like to experience the gratitude of the many service workers who received support and love during this scary time. With additional donations, we joined forces with 610 Magnolia, Lee’s flagship Louisville restaurant, to serve Louisville industry workers while still keeping tabs on the people we served in New Albany, Indiana. The streets were empty but our hearts were full, serving over 200 people per week. The program expanded to 18 other cities in the U.S., providing over 275,000 meals.
Moving forward, we are working with the LEE Initiative’s Restaurant Reboot Relief Program, a $1 million commitment to purchase produce from local farmers for restaurants to create more sustainable food supply chains. Restaurants that have hosted restaurant-worker relief centers will receive the food and help select other local restaurants to participate.
This remains a trying time for all of us. I have witnessed firsthand amazing beauty from great loss. I have seen open doors and hearts, open minds and people united for a greater sense of purpose. We look forward to enduring this time, coming out stronger together.
Be well,
Joe Phillips, Owner Pints & Union Restaurant
114 East Market St.
New Albany, IN 47150
812.913.4647
Learn more about The LEE Initiative Restaurant Relief Program, Restaurant Reboot Relief Program, McAtee Community Kitchen, Restaurant Regrow Program and Women Chefs Program.
I'm sharing column space this week with sentences written by two others, so let's get started.
Pints&union is coming back, although to be specific, we never really went away. Owner Joe Phillips explains this in the current issue of Edible Kentucky & Southern Indiana.
When the COVID-19 quarantine shut down local restaurants in March, we were devastated and silent. We all knew it was coming, but to know it’s knocking at your door is a very different reality than watching others face it on social media or television. We were shell-shocked for two days—then realized we needed to get back to work, somehow.
Knowing our perishable food would go bad, we donated it to our workers who were suddenly out of work. We needed a sense of purpose; we needed to give back to the workers who have been providing hospitality to our communities every day for years.
Chef Edward Lee and Lindsey Ofcacek, founders of the LEE Initiative, gave us that opportunity with the Restaurant Workers Relief Program. Thanks to a donation from Maker’s Mark Distillery, we gathered essential household items and served hot meals to feed laid off restaurant workers and their families every day. There are no words to fully describe what it felt like to experience the gratitude of the many service workers who received support and love during this scary time.
With additional donations, we joined forces with 610 Magnolia, Lee’s flagship Louisville restaurant, to serve Louisville industry workers while still keeping tabs on the people we served in New Albany, Indiana. The streets were empty but our hearts were full, serving over 200 people per week. The program expanded to 18 other cities in the U.S., providing over 275,000 meals.
Moving forward, we are working with the LEE Initiative’s Restaurant Reboot Relief Program, a $1 million commitment to purchase produce from local farmers for restaurants to create more sustainable food supply chains. Restaurants that have hosted restaurant-worker relief centers will receive the food and help select other local restaurants to participate.
This remains a trying time for all of us. I have witnessed firsthand amazing beauty from great loss. I have seen open doors and hearts, open minds and people united for a greater sense of purpose. We look forward to enduring this time, coming out stronger together.
Joe also threw himself into helping others in West Louisville when the Black Lives Matter protests began, although this is another story for a different time.
You should know that I’m proud to be working for a man who hasn't once denied science during a pandemic, complained about financial misfortune, dismissed the importance of civil rights for fear of alienating antebellum mouth-breathers, or minimized the all-purpose societal challenges we're facing at this juncture.
As I've said before, Joe just lowers his head and runs in the direction of the fire. It’s too bad not every downtown dining and drinking establishment's owner can say the same … but alas, I digress.
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Our new general manager at Pints&union is Steven Cavanaugh, a resident of New Albany who recently concluded a long, productive stint running the Garage Bar in NuLu.
Steven wrote this outline of what we’ll be doing for the safety of our customers and ourselves when the doors reopen to the public on Saturday.
PINTS & UNION REOPENING OUTLINE
Pints & union will be reopening to the public on Saturday, July 11th at 5:00 p.m.
While the charity work we’ve been able to accomplish in the time our doors have been closed has been some of the most rewarding and transformative experiences of our lives, we could not be more excited to welcome our guests back into the Public House you’ve come to know and love in our nearly two years of operation.
This being said, there are a few new procedures to be aware of that we’re implementing to ensure the highest level of safety for our guests and for our staff as possible.
For starters, masks will be REQUIRED to enter the building, to order at the bar, and to move about the pub. Essentially anytime you’ll be away from your table, we’ll require a mask to be worn.
Being a public house, we and all who enter have a duty to do our part in helping keep the public safe. We’ll be doing a temperature screen and taking information from one person in each party for contract tracing purposes. We’ll be self-imposing some capacity restrictions that go a bit further than the state currently allows by properly distancing all tables and bar stools, as well as prohibiting any standing-room-only areas.
Our neighbors at The Root have been kind enough to let us use their patio for dinner service from 5 to 10 PM on the weekends as an extension of our small outdoor seating area to help combat the capacity issue.
All tables will have a “drop zone” where fresh food will be placed by our staff and dirty dishes can be placed by guests for our team to pick up. We’ll have bottles of sanitizer provided by Starlight Distillery at each table for guests to use while they’re here, and are taking several other behind-the-scenes precautions such as air purifiers, ionizers in our AC unit, and new ceiling fans to constantly clean and circulate fresh air.
The whole team is beyond exciting to get our doors open again and see some familiar, albeit masked, faces! We’ve got a new dinner menu to show off as well as some incredible stories to tell behind some of our new products. We’ll see you all soon!
One point in the preceding merits emphasis: “Masks will be REQUIRED to enter the building, to order at the bar, and to move about the pub. Essentially anytime you’ll be away from your table, we’ll require a mask to be worn. Being a public house, we and all who enter have a duty to do our part in helping keep the public safe.”
Here's the best sign I've seen on the topic of masks, as produced by a Twitter friend; it's posted at Chicago Bagel Authority on Belmont Avenue in that toddlin' town.
Now to my column stanzas.
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I suspect that our American cultural preference to emphasize mind-numbling ignorance about the wider world doesn’t manage to produce rebellious Francophiles in quite the way we used to, but there was a time when they indeed roamed the earth.
And so let’s imagine an American man of late middle age, living in Louisville, or perhaps even Southern Indiana, who is enamored of all things French, especially the city of Paris, to him the exemplar of culture, modernity … and yes, all-purpose éclat.
The year is 1939, and the leaves have fallen. Owing to a modest inheritance and toothsome work habits, our Francophile friend -- can we refer to him as Frank? -- has long been able to indulge his love of France through visits every other year. It's not France alone for Frank, who has embraced the classic “grand tour” notion of examining Western European haunts. He usually spends time in non-Parisian locales during his trips.
Still, French terroir is Frank's first and most abiding love.
Frank is looking forward to the year 1940; April in Paris, after all. In fact, he has booked passage to France well in advance for the spring of 1940, sailing on the French Line (the Compagnie Générale Maritime) from New York City to Le Havre, where the trains depart for Paris.
However, storm clouds are gathering. War in Europe is all but certain. Transatlantic passages are starting to dwindle, yet Frank persists, because these trips to France are life itself to him, and the sustenance for coping with the philistinism in FDR’s increasingly socialist America, from which he simply must escape every now and then to a place where they do things correctly.
Unfortunately our Frank is a Republican.
Calendar pages turn, and as Frank’s holiday in France draws ever nearer, he finally gets cold feet. Friends, family and the American government conspire to issue unassailable warnings about the potentially dangerous situation across the pond. As a frequent traveler, Frank wangles a postponement with only the minimum in penalties. He’ll sail instead in 1941, after the inclement geopolitical weather blows over.
And so, on cue, the Germans invade France in the spring of 1940, quickly overwhelming the French and capturing Paris. World War II ensues, by any measure the most destructive war in human history.
It will be 1946 before Frank is able to return to Paris. In the interim, he lives his life correctly. Frank purchases war bonds, maintains a Victory Garden, volunteers for useful wartime homefront duties, reads the library's collection of French novels in translation at least twice each, and burns through multiple phonograph needles listening to the 1941 hit song that always brings his hankie out.
But then it's 1946, and Frank at long last sees Paris again, finding himself seated within the familiar confines of Harry’s New York Bar at 5 Rue Daunou – Sank Roo Doe Noo – with a Bloody Mary in one hand and a Havana in the other, daydreams of his heroes Ernest Hemingway, George Gershwin and Jack Dempsey swirling through the battered touring cap on his simply delighted, albeit far grayer head.
It doesn’t seem to Frank like it has been eight years. He's happy to be back, and the feeling is intensified by gratitude, because beating the damned evil Nazis proved to be a collective accomplishment far outweighing his own selfish desires. Hell, even that filthy communist Uncle Joe Stalin helped us out.
Moulin Rouge, here Frank comes.
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Returning from the realm of fiction to the present day, we’re experiencing a global pandemic, and Europe is closed to Americans because so many of my countrymen exist in a stuporous state of anti-scientific, fruit-loops-grade denial of medical reality, prattling endlessly about their "rights" while burying their heads in the alluvial mud at the slightest suggestion of responsibilities.
Yes, I won't be going to Europe any time soon, and it bothered me at first like it bothered Frank back in 1940, but the constructive way I propose to deal with it is to accept the nature of the threat and react sensibly to it, correctly even, such that a semblance of good might come about.
I'm wearing a facemask in public, practicing social (physical) distancing to the best of my ability, washing my hands often, practicing good hygiene overall, and being as much a part of the solution as I can possibly be, as opposed to being another brick in the wall of problematic narcissism.
At the present time, it is my earnest hope that in 2021 my aching feet again will be transported to European soil. As always, upon arrival, whether it’s next year or five more afterward, I’ll kiss the ground, sob tears of joy and thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for my good fortune to be able to enjoy a brief respite from other Americans.
Until then, whatever it takes. I’ll do my part to deal with COVID-19. You should consider doing yours, too, and those of you who are being proud, stupid and plainly anti-social about it -- sorry, not sorry, but you're making it worse for everyone.
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.
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.
(snip)
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.”
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:
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.
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.
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.
It's slightly mind-boggling that Chef Edward Lee's presence in Louisville dates back almost two decades to his famous road trip to the Kentucky Derby and an appointment with destiny at 610 Magnolia. Since then Lee has managed the difficult feat of having universal appeal without egregiousness, and arguably his most important current work is coming from The Lee Initiative.
Following is a Monday event we previewed over at Food & Dining Magazine. I'll be in attendance and plan to file a report at F&D on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The LEE Initiative is an acronym for Let’s Empower Employment: “We started the LEE Initiative in Louisville, Kentucky in 2015 after we saw a need for more diversity, more training, and more equality in our own restaurants.”
For International Women’s Month, The LEE Initiative is teaming up with Kentucky to the World to present “The Future of Food is Female,” a program in the Republic Bank Foundation Speaker Series. The event takes place on Monday, March 2 at the Kentucky Center Bomhard Theater (501 West Main Street, Louisville). A reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and the program kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
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