Prepare Food for Low-income Residents and Provide Revenue to CID Small Businesses at the Same Time
Seattle, WA – This spring, the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda) re-launched the distribution of meals to low-income residents in the Chinatown International District (CID) prepared by locally-owned restaurants in the neighborhood with the support of funding from a variety of funding sources.
“We’re grateful for the community’s support of our meal program that supports both residents and small businesses at the same time” said Jamie Lee, Director of Community Initiatives at SCIDpda. “We have seen a lot of compassion from different sides of our community, and realized throughout the past year that so many people keep the Chinatown International District in their hearts and minds.”
At the onset of COVID-19 shutdowns in March 2020, the closure of the neighborhood food bank location and onsite meal programs for low-income seniors further complicated the ability of residents to access food. SCIDpda, a neighborhood-based organization, worked with ACRS to coordinate grocery deliveries and ICHS to prepare meals for senior residents. A meal program to provide additional meals for non-elderly low-income residents and support local restaurants was developed when funding was provided to SCIDpda and other affordable housing providers in April 2020.
Asians at Amazon, an employee resource group for Amazon employees of Asian descent, contacted SCIDpda in April 2020 to see how they could help. The affinity group created a fundraiser for the meals program that became one of the larger components of funding for the meal program in 2020.
Lee cites a recent donation from Amazon’s corporate giving arm, as well as a fundraiser led by Top Chef contestant Chef Shota Nakajima, and an overall uptick in donations from individuals to SCIDpda in the wake of heightened awareness of violence against Asian Americans as the funding sources that have allowed for the meal program to reawaken after funds for meals had ran out in late Q4 of 2020.
“Amazon is excited to continue our support of SCIDpda’s stewardship over the residential and business communities of Seattle’s Chinatown International District,” said Taylor Hoang, Senior External Affairs Manager at Amazon.
To date, SCIDpda has delivered over 8,000 meals (and 20,000 bags of groceries) to residents in the CID. Meals and groceries are delivered by volunteers who drive and/or drop-off the food to residents. Donors can make a direct donation to the meal program at scidpda.org/donate, and people interested in volunteering can contact info@scidpda.org.
