I was in the pantry one day when one of our guests–originally from the Dominican Republic–turned to one of our volunteers (whose parents were originally from Cuba) and said “They don’t have our kind of food here.”
They don’t have our kind of food here.
– Guest of FFGE
A lightbulb went off: I realized that we had the wrong kind of beans for Caribbean cooking.
After two years here, I have learned that Caribbean cooking is not the same as Mexican cooking, which is not the same as Central American, which is not the same as South American, which is not the same as—-the list goes on. It inspired us to take action.
Food for Greater Elgin is holding its first Flavors of Home virtual annual campaign Feb. 21 to Feb. 28. The goal and purpose of the inaugural online campaign is to raise $10,000 which will be used to purchase culturally appropriate foods for our guests.
In the spirit of compassion, respect and empowerment, funds raised through the 2022 Flavors of Home Campaign will be used to purchase certain foods and ingredients that will allow our guests to prepare meals from their respective cultures.
We host people from diverse backgrounds and cultures (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central/South American, Russian, Eastern European, Asian and African American, and more) at FFGE, but most of the specialty ingredients needed to prepare their cultural dishes aren’t donated by local grocery stores. Our guests are forced to shop elsewhere, which undercuts FFGE’s mission: Helping guests channel their limited income into other critical areas of their lives, such as rent, utilities, and medications.
The 2022 Flavors of Home Annual Campaign is an online campaign. People can take part in two ways:
- They can set up a personal fundraising page or
- Make a donation to one of those pages through ffge.givecloud.co/FlavorsOfHome.
For every dollar we receive, FFGE can buy $8 worth of food.
For more information, email Flavors of Home campaign chairperson Danise Habun at dhabun@msn.com or ED at Michael Montgomery at ed@ffge.org.
-Michael