Help me nourish those who've lost work

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Hello my loves,

I know I've been jumping into your inbox a lot this week, but I wanted to talk to you again today, because it's become clear to me over the last few days what a devastating effect COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the hospitality industry. Many service and retail businesses have been terribly affected too. What this means in real human impact is that thousands of people in Sydney alone have lost their jobs literally overnight. These are low income workers with little to fall back on. They can’t pay their rent, they can’t buy groceries, and they can’t get jobs. Their industry just disappeared. These are also the people who have been working tirelessly to provide you with the dining-out experiences you love. They’ve also been cutting your hair, doing your nails, making your coffee and baking your croissants, and now their livelihoods have simply evaporated overnight, in silence. So, I want to feed them.

It so happens that I have an empty restaurant premises in Sydney right now, and I want to open her doors again, this time to offer a free meal to anyone, from any industry, who needs it as a result of job loss due to COVID-19. And I need your help. I am asking for:

1. Monetary donations to purchase food and supplies to fund a (delicious) soup kitchen operating for an initial two days a week from the Hearth & Soul Sydney premises. You can donate via our GoFundMe page :).

2. Donations of food, disposable cutlery and bowls, and takeaway packaging - drop off only at this stage, please email me to arrange this. Food-wise I am initially planning on serving hearty soups, so pulses, lentils, beans, barley, pasta, veges (tinned or fresh), onions and garlic, and meat and bones would be very welcome, but really, I’ll take anything! Let me know what you have by replying to this email :)

3. Volunteers to work for any amount of time you can on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays, to help me whip up lovely nourishing pots of love for those who need it. We will need help with prep, cooking, serving and packing down/cleaning. Let me know if you can help by replying to this email :).

If you can help in any of these ways I would be so incredibly grateful. When I was caught up in the NYE fires, I desperately wanted to do something to help the communities that were devastated (see my email a few days ago for THAT story). But the reality was that I was there on holiday, I wasn’t part of the local community, and I could (and had to) leave. Of course I donated to all the relevant charities, and we offered our assistance to every one of the locals we met in the evacuation centre. But there was very little practical help we could actually offer. This time it’s different. These are my people whose lives are being turned upside down. Several of the beautiful ladies who worked at Hearth are now facing incredibly uncertain futures. We’ve opened our home to those that we can (and yes, it’s that bad, you try saving enough to fund an unknowable number of months rent on the average hospitality wage). And now I want to open my restaurant too.

Anything you can contribute will make a huge difference to these beautiful people who have nothing to fall back on. Please share this email with anyone in your network who may be able to assist. I will make an assessment on when we will open in a few days time - this will obviously depend on what we have to work with, so I’m putting the call out and we’ll go from there.

Obviously we will comply with any government and council food-service requirements for COVID. I’m currently working through these: our service may be takeaway only, although I am hoping to be able to accomodate people in-house too as there is a desperate need for community connection right now. 

If for some reason announcements are made in coming days or weeks that would mean a soup kitchen is not viable, any funds and supplies collected will be donated to a charity that is assisting people who are affected by COVID.

Have a peaceful Sunday my darlings - it's glorious weather here in Sydney and I'm planning a serene harbour-side walk. Much love you you all.

Love, Rachel xxx