Meet Our Holiday Cause Partners
The founding of WE ARE CHIMMI ties back to the love of our cultural foods, pride in our heritage, and a desire to help the underrepresented and underprivileged. Every season we donate 10% of profits from sales to a different group of organizations that support immigrant and marginalized communities. This holiday season marks one year of WE ARE CHIMMI and we are reminded of our mission with these three causes we are donating to this quarter.
Find out more details on each organization below, links to where you can donate to directly, as well as other ways to get involved. And in the spirit of Giving Tuesday, we are increasing our donation to 50% of profits from sales for one day on November 30 to our holiday cause partners:
In 2017, Rethink Food started with the simple idea that excess ingredients from high end restaurants around New York City could be recovered and repurposed to make low cost or no-cost meals for families in need. Four years later, this nonprofit prepares 8,000 to 10,000 meals per week in coordination with organizations like Food Bank for New York City and Heart of Dinner. It has expanded and partnered with over 100 food establishments to prepare meals from excess food for those facing food insecurity in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Nashville, Washington D.C. and Miami. Eleven Madison Park, Domnique Crenn, and Tacombi are just a few of their many notable restaurant partners. Rethink also launched a Restaurant Response Program to fund 30 New York restaurants with grants to prepare and distribute food to underprivileged communities and essential workers. Rethink’s wide network of restaurants has helped band together New York community leaders and local restaurateurs particularly during the pandemic when many restaurants suffered economically. Rethink continues to raise money to create grants for restaurants to prepare foods for those who experience food insecurity.
This year for Giving Tuesday and through December 31, all donations made directly to Rethink Food will be matched dollar for dollar by the organization. Other ways to give back are listed at the bottom of their holiday season page, including a thank you card writing campaign to thank their community organizers and restaurant partners. Follow these instructions on how to participate.
WOMANKIND
Womankind originally formed in 1982 for Asian immigrant women on the East Coast who were victims of domestic violence. The organization continues to focus on helping survivors of gender-based violence, including those who have suffered trauma from domestic violence as immigrants and helps them build a path to healing. They provide aid with housing assistance, legal immigration advice, provide English classes and a 24-hour helpline for 18-plus Asian languages and dialects. They partner with individuals and communities with the understanding that systemic oppression is a real problem and that gender-based violence is a human rights issue.
Womankind’s “Champion for Womankind” program helps build awareness through growing a circle of allies, generating sustainable support, and empowering survivors. Anyone can sign up to be a member of the program and contribute to their cause. The nonprofit also offers various opportunities to get involved as a volunteer. Head over to their website to learn more about “Champion for Womankind” and their volunteer opportunities.
THE YOUNG CENTER
Named for one of the first children the organization served, The Young Center helps unaccompanied and separated children facing deportation to make sure the child can land somewhere safe, their voices are heard, and that they can be reunited with their families. The organization was founded in 2004 in Chicago and was made up of a small group of attorneys and social workers with experience in children’s rights and immigration law and bilingual volunteers who spoke the children’s languages. They met with the children while they were detained, provided them with appropriate legal representation, accompanied them to immigration court and advocated for their best interests. Often when an underage immigrant is detained, the child is not given proper legal representation as the US immigration law does not recognize children as distinct from adults. The Young Center’s goal is to change the immigration system so that children in immigration proceedings are recognized as children and the best interests are made a part of the decision making process. The Young Center now has offices in Houston, San Antonio Phoenix, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York, Harlingen, and Chicago.
The Young Center’s goal is to raise $100,000 through their #GivingTuesday campaign. Funds will allow the organization to continue to advocate for more unaccompanied and separated children at the border and around the country. And every donation will be matched dollar for dollar through their Waymaker fund. Follow this link to double your impact.
Image credit: CP Clay Williams and Rethink Food