Hurricane Sandy was devastating to millions of people in the New York tri-state area. With electricity, food and water in short supply (or non-existent) in many neighborhoods, David Weber and the NYC Food Truck Association stepped up to help feed hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in some of the hardest hit areas.

David organized corporate contributions and donations from the Mayor’s Fund To Advance NYC, in addition to coordinating dozens of food trucks, to get over 350,000 hot meals served in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Now David and the NYCFTA have been chosen as an honoree for the 2013 Neighborhood Achievement Awards.

In addition, they are in the running for the Helping Hand Award for their post-Sandy relief work which will be determined by public vote. That’s where you come in. VOTE HERE!

Remember all the smiles that David, the NYCFTA and its food truck members brought to our friends and neighbors in their time of need. Now let’s recognize them for their selfless service.

Cupcake Crew Handing Out Smiles In Queens

http://newyorkstreetfood.com/42292/vote-for-the-nyc-food-truck-association-for-the-2013-neighborhood-achievement-awards/

(Photo courtesy of Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese)

When one local family heard the news of the Boston Marathon bombings, their immediate reaction was to help, and that help came in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Thanks to the generosity of the Carroll family, Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese food truck in Boston supplied hundreds of grilled cheese sandwiches at no cost to the doctors, first responders and emergency workers who worked to safeguard the streets of Boston in the days following the bombings and to treat victims.

David Carroll, a Boston native who resides in Saratoga Springs with his wife, Shannan, and their four young children, grew up going to the marathon. The attack hit close to home for him.

The day after the marathon, Carroll was reading an article online and a piece of the story caught his eye.

A food truck operating out of the city’s south end was giving food away to anyone who was hungry and in need. While the doors of almost all city businesses were shuttered, Roxy’s fleet of grilled cheese trucks was mobile, transporting toasty sandwiches from one block to the next.

Carroll sent James Di-Sabatino, one of the owners of Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese, a message last Tuesday, asking what he could do to help. By Wednesday evening, a plan was in place.

“He’s a small business, he can’t be doing it all on his own, but he got it started. … And I said, let’s just keep this going, let me try to pay this forward,” Carroll said.

And forward it went. Di-Sabatino reported back to Carroll that he was able to provide hundreds of free sandwiches to hungry first responders for days.

While most of the city was at home watching the news, emergency workers were on duty around the clock without a break.

“The city was in turmoil,” Carroll said about the days immediately following the marathon. “Everyone was still shell-shocked, and these guys were out there just getting it done.”

Carroll was reluctant to go public with his act of kindness, initially turning down a request for an interview.

Over coffee Tuesday, though, Carroll said he only agreed to be interviewed because he wanted a chance to share the important role he feels compassion and empathy play in society. Carroll says it is especially important to pass that idea on to the younger generations.

“Having (my children) realize that things like this do help” was motivating, he said.

While he never imagined something like the marathon bombings would happen in Boston, he believes the city will bounce back.

“I think it’s made that city stronger, I think it’s made the people there stronger, more resilient,” Carroll said. “And it’s a testament to the folks — the doctors and the emergency workers — how they came together and did such amazing things.”

http://saratogian.com/articles/2013/04/23/news/doc51773726c49b9360119551.txt

Residents of hard-hit areas of the Northeast corridor continue to band together to return essential services and a semblance of normal life to their local communities since Hurricane Sandy struck five months ago. In the seaside community of the Rockaways south of New York City, one local hip hop “boy” decided to drop his mic and lend a helping hand.

Mike Diamond, known as “Mike D” as one-third of legendary rap crew the Beastie Boys, teamed up with his business partner and creative designer Robert McKinley, to help out the neighborhood that he had previously enjoyed as a prime surfing spot.  The result was the Rockaway Plate Lunch Truck which brings hot, free, meals five days a week to residents in the Rockaway area who were affected by Sandy.

“Rob and I went out there–like a lot of other people, we felt compelled by our connection to the water, and surfing, so wanted to lend a hand and see what was needed. We loaded up his station wagon with supplies, went out to the Rockaway Surf Club, and we quickly saw that one of the things that was more sorely needed was hot food,” said Diamond in a January interview with Bon Appetit magazine.

That initial trip bloomed into a partnership with a group of concerned restaurant owners who were able to quickly organize into a fully operational food truck operation that has served 19,000 free meals of chicken, rice, beans and vegetables to date. Sandy recovery has been politicized in Washington and FEMA and the American Red Cross received widespread criticism for its slow and confusing response to damaged areas. Diamond says the glaring need for basic supplies for victims drove him and his partners into action in the early days of the crisis.

“If we were the kind of people who were patient, there were trucks the mayor’s office was offering, and all these benefits that we probably could have gotten, but what we realized was that you couldn’t be patient,” he told Bon Appetit. “Patience would not have met anybody’s needs…these American cheese and white bread sandwiches from the Red Cross aren’t cutting it.”

So, now more than five months since the storm hit, Diamond is looking to change the food trucks focus.

“There’s still the need for warm food out there, but our real goal for this summer is to help revitalize the local economy,” Diamond told Rolling Stone Tuesday. “So we’re trying to switch the truck over from giving away food, to charging for food but having it become staffed, run and operated on every level by citizens of the Rockaways.”

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/05/from-beast-to-feast-mike-ds-sandy-relief-food-truck/

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - After Superstorm Sandy struck New York, the Rockaway Plate Lunch Truck has doled out a whole lot of chicken and rice plates to help residents of the storm-ravaged Rockaways.

Mario Archangel, a volunteer, says they have served about 26,000 plates since they started. He and cook Craig Hazan are the boots on the ground of this operation, but the project is actually the brain child of a group of people. Among them is Beastie Boy Mike D, restaurant designer Robert McKinley, and celebrity chef Sam Talbot.

Initially the Plate Lunch Truck was one of countless organizations that came to the Rockaways to offer help and supplies. But months later, it is one of the only groups that continue to show up. They come three days a week.

The lunch truck runs on donations, and has partnered with the nonprofit Waves for Water.

A number of high-profile New York City restaurants have also been involved by supplying man power when needed.

The Plate Lunch Truck will continue to offer green food to the community until the summer. Then volunteers plan to start a mentoring program to help young people in the area.

Read more: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/21656741/lunch-truck-continues-to-serve-storm-battered-rockaways#ixzz2Om5QsgWx

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/21656741/lunch-truck-continues-to-serve-storm-battered-rockaways

The Salvation Army’s Director of Homeless Services, Christine Henry.

UPTOWN — A Salvation Army food truck returned to its usual spot near the lakefront Monday, the mobile outreach unit’s first visit to Uptown since this past weekend’s controversy over whether it should continue to serve the neighborhood’s needy.

The food truck, which the organization has sent to Uptown since 2009, was the subject of a dispute between Ald. James Cappleman (46th) and Salvation Army officials, who said Cappleman asked that the charity stop giving people free food at the corner of West Wilson and North Clarendon avenues.

Cappleman released a statement Sunday acknowledging he was at a contentious meeting with the group, but said his goal was to work with the organization in helping the homeless.

“No one should ever have to be worried about where his or her next meal will be,” he said in the statement.

John Welles, 68, who lives in low-income housing in Uptown, was one of more than two dozen people who sought food from the truck Monday. Welles, who said he has no living family and has been unemployed for 15 years, said a few free meals a week makes a big difference since his Social Security check is not always enough for him to both pay for rent and food.

“Oh, you better believe it helps! I’m living a hard, tough time. I’m 68, I can’t get a job,” he said as he ate a bowl of soup and bread.

Salvation Army Captain Nancy Powers said that in the unit’s first year, 2009, it helped get as many as 600 people off of the street, and that it does the same for about 300 individuals every year. The food is just the organization’s “calling card,” to establish relationships with people they hope to help find long term solutions to circumstances in their lives, including drug abuse, mental illness and homelessness.

“The point is to establish a relationship. Today I take a bowl of soup to you, tomorrow [you] might go to detox,” Powers said.

The Salvation Army’s Director of Homeless Services, Christine Henry, said case workers “come out and bring to the streets the things that the homeless won’t come out to get.” Henry said it is an effective strategy, but that the organization serves a “different crowd” than it has in recent years.

“It’s not so much the homeless getting food from my truck as it is the residents,” she said.

The Salvation Army’s Director of Homeless Services, Christine Henry, helps steady a woman who had just got a free cup of hot soup from the charity organization’s mobile outreach team.

About half of the largely middle-aged and elderly men who came for a meal Monday lingered and mingled with caseworkers after eating food. Others ate on the spot and walked away or immediately left with the food.

Cappleman, a former social worker and teacher, has said he is working on behalf of people like those eating out in the cold Monday— but his response to the Salvation Army controversy and promise of more advocacy won’t stop a Wednesday evening protest planned outside his office.

“This food truck issue is the latest in a string of actions,” said Rogers Park lawyer and activist Thomas Westgard, who plans to be at “The Feed the Hungry,” protest March 6 at 5 p.m. along with others who echoed similar sentiments about Cappleman following his statement.

Westgard cited recent news of rent increases at the renovated Chateau Hotel that could price current residents out, Cappleman’s efforts to close the Wilson Men’s Hotel and his relationship with developers in Uptown who Westgard said want to limit the amount of affordable housing options.

“The most needy among us are being attacked just to help real estate developers make a little more money,” he said.

Organizers said the protest started as scattered discussions among residents and activists Saturday night — but Uptown resident Stavroula Harissis decided to centralize those efforts by creating a Facebook page to help organize a united effort.

“As an Uptown resident who walks past Cappleman’s office every day on my way to the Red Line, I feel compelled to let this man know how appalled I am,” she posted on Facebook.

Asked about the status of the protest following Cappleman’s response Sunday night, she said, “We’re still going ahead with it.”

More than 200 people had indicated they were going as of Monday morning.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130304/uptown/salvation-army-food-truck-back-on-street-after-dustup-with-alderman

IRINA GONZALEZ
Mmmmm…cheesy.

Do you know the only thing better than a classic macaroni and cheese dish that everyone loves? Buying that mac ‘n cheese in order to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. That’s what is currently happening thanks to the Stouffer’s Mac ‘N Cheese Truck going around New York City from today until Thursday, February 14th–the day of love to send a “big hug to New York.”

I was lucky enough to attend the new food truck’s kick-off event, where Stouffer’s representatives served up free macaroni and cheese (traditional, chili mac and BBQ mac) to Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, residents that were affected by the October disaster.

After trying the three different kids of macaroni and cheese (YUM!), I sat down with Master of Spice chef Lior Lev Sercarz (he created the chili mac while fellow chef “Grill Girl” Elizabeth Karmel is the one behind the BBQ mac) to talk about the launch of the food truck and why Stouffer’s is so dedicated to bringing delicious, cheap food to New Yorkers all for a good cause.

“They thought it would be fun to see how they could give their product a little twist,” he says of the much-loved Stouffer’s mac and cheese. Finding out that they actually make their own pasta and use 100 percent cheddar cheese, Chef Sercarz explained how “we came up with five toppings to show that you can have the plain, classic one but if you want to change it once in a while, you can do it.”

Stouffer’s and Nestle, the parent company, are donating all of the proceeds from the sales of the $4 mac and cheese which is currently driving around New York City and opening its doors from about 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Other than Chef Sercarz’s and Chef Karmel’s mac and cheese, Stouffer’s also invited six celebrity chefs to join in a friendly competition where they serve up their own take on macaroni and cheese–and the winner will have a $25,000 donation to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City in support of hurricane relief efforts.

Besides serving up the really delicious macaroni and cheese (the chili mac was my personal favorite), Chef Sercarz hopes that they will be able to raise as much money as possible and also interact with people to hear their own favorite versions of Stouffer’s mac and cheese.

If you’re interested in some yummy for-a-good-cause $4 macaroni and cheese, check out one of these locations:

• 1/28 Monday: 40th & 5th/Bryant Park
• 1/29 Tuesday (Celebrity Chef Seamus Mullen): 26th bw 7 & 8 (Chelsea Television Studios)
• 1/30 Wednesday: 23rd & Park (Madison Square Park)
• 1/31 Thursday (Celebrity Chef Amanda Freitag): 48th & 3rd
• 2/1 Friday: Hudson & King St (Tribeca)
• 2/4 Monday: 14 & Irving (Union Square)
• 2/5 Tuesday (Celebrity Chef Lee Ann Wong): 4 World Financial Center, North End Ave @ Vescey St
• 2/6 Wednesday: 57 & 8th (Hearst Building*)
• 2/7: Thursday (Celebrity Chef Marc Murphy): 46 & Vanderbilt (Grand Central area)
• 2/8 Friday: Hanover Square
• 2/11 Monday (Celebrity Chef Chris Santos): Varick & Vandam (SoHo)
• 2/12 Tuesday: Water & Wall -OR- Broad
• 2/13 Wednesday: 46 & 6th
• 2/14 Thursday (Celebrity Chef Sarah Simmons): 48th & 3rd

You can also follow along with the Stouffer’s Mac ‘N Cheese Truck on Facebook, Twitter and #stouffersmobilemac. Enjoy it today and, trust me, you’ll be feeling good on many levels.

http://www.metro.us/newyork/life/article/1160928–stouffer-s-mac-n-cheese-truck-delicious-food-for-a-hurricane-sandy-relief

Proceeds from the event benefit brain cancer research.

If you’re a fan of food trucks. You might want to consider heading over to Lutz for a charity event featuring food trucks and music for a good cause?

“Truckin’ for a Cure” happens the first Friday of the month at Holy Trinity Church of Lutz, 20735 Leonard Road, according to the event’s Facebook page.

The events benefit the Suzanne Ciani Brain Cancer Foundation.

“There will be food trucks with amazing food, live music and many vendors,” organizers wrote.

The next “Truckin’ for a Cure” will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs.

For more information, check out the “Truckin’ for a Cure” Facebook page.

http://carrollwood.patch.com/articles/live-music-food-trucks-at-truckin-for-a-cure-e474aa10#photo-11614831

As most of New York City ventured outside after Hurricane Sandy for the first time, two young guys in Rockaway Park were kicking the tires on their newly renovated food truck. All the businesses in the area – restaurants, supermarkets – were days, weeks, if not months from reopening. But the truck still worked.

Their neighborhood customers were another story. They had no power, no heat, no access to clean clothes, fresh water, or hot food – the lucky ones still had a place to go home to. It was obvious to these two guys, Terrence McNicholas and Jared Adler of The Fisherman’s Dog, what they had to do.

Not long after, their truck was up and running, serving pay-what-you-can meals to their neighbors in the Rockaways.

At the same time, not far away, producers of the NYC Food Film Festival were mining their deep networks for food, funds, and friends to help get hot meals to fellow New Yorkers in storm-ravaged areas. The first to commit were Burger Maker with 1,800 fresh patties, Jarlsburg with cheese and funding, and Sweet’N Low (made in Brooklyn for over 50 years) with additional funds. With the growing pipeline of donated food secured, Fisherman’s Dog offered to help with prep and distribution, along with local institution Rockaway Taco. It was dubbed Burger Aid 2012.

At the time, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City was working closely with the NYC Office of Emergency Management and coordinators of the City’s Distribution Centers to address vital needs such as food and supplies, and it was clear just how much a simple hot meal meant to storm victims. So we formed a partnership and added the New York Food Truck Association, which had mobilized its members, many of whom had already begun serving free food on their own time and initiative.

Connecting the real-time knowledge of City Agencies and FEMA working on the ground, the Mayor’s Fund ultimately funded over 275,000 free hot meals to New Yorkers in the neighborhoods hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. As many as 32 trucks were dispatched on any given day, serving over 500 meals apiece. Additional food distribution efforts to date, including Thanksgiving meals, exceed 330,000.

The impact for families was significant and immediate, as we heard in daily reports and tweets and instagrams and blog posts from the trucks on the ground.

“The smile on people’s faces when they get warm food and coffee is priceless,” one said in a Nov 8 report.

“We are so inspired by the strength of this community,” said another.

“Honored to feed 500 ppl at the Redfern Houses today.”

“After learning from a community leader that there were many homebound people who hadn’t received food, we started driving the truck house to house, knocking on doors and delivering food to people in tears, who begged the truck to return the next day,” according to a Nov. 12 report.

“Showing up in a neighborhood that has been devastated to provide a service to the people in need there is no small feat. It requires a resilience and a thick skin to smile through the long, sad faces, the scent of anger and despair, the resentment, the fear of what’s coming when it gets colder, and just plain shock and awe that everything these people once loved is now gone. I was raised by a firefighter and grew up around these kinds of situations (emergency fire radio in our house and my father was a first responder) so it gave me an enormous sense of pride to join the many brave workers who have been at the forefront of the recovery efforts.”

As the transition from immediate relief to long-term recovery begins, local small businesses are re-opening and eager for customers once again. Each of the trucks who answered the call to action deserves our sincere thanks for the service they provided to their city and their neighbors when they were needed most.

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/12/new-york-nyc-how-new-york-city-food-trucks-helped-heal-hurricane-sandy-victims/feed/ 0 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/12/bath-maine-student-led-fundraiser-produces-8000-worth-of-food-for-needy-families/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2012/12/bath-maine-student-led-fundraiser-produces-8000-worth-of-food-for-needy-families/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:43:51 +0000 MFN Editor #1 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=35899 By Christopher Cousins | BangorDailyNews.com

BATH, Maine — “Would you like a carton of half and half?” asked a volunteer who was handing out free food to the needy on Tuesday.

“Oh my, you don’t know how long it’s been since I could afford something like that,” said the recipient.

“Would you like more than one?” asked the volunteer.

The woman considered the question for a moment before waving away a second carton. “No thanks. One will be plenty for me. Thank you so much and merry Christmas,” she said, walking away with a smile and box brimming with food.

Sometimes the simplest things can brighten a person’s day, like a quart of half and half. It’s moments like those that have helped sustain all the volunteers and donors who have kept the Bath Area Mobile Food Truck in operation for the past six years. It costs about $1,000 to fill the truck with food, which is then distributed to between 250 and 325 families on the last Tuesday of every month. That same food would cost $8,000 at a grocery store, according to Kimberly Gates, the organization’s coordinator.

“These families need their food,” said Gates, who added that almost 70 percent of children in the area qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch at school.

On Tuesday, amid a frigid downpour in the parking lot of Grace Episcopal Church, the usual cadre of volunteers was joined by a group of students from Jobs for Maine Graduates at nearby Morse High School. In addition to helping families fill boxes with food and carry them to their cars, the students raised the $1,000 necessary to fund Tuesday’s offering.

According to Maria Morris, Morse’s Jobs for Maine Graduates specialist, her class receives $1,000 a year to distribute to charity in any way they see fit. This year they chose to award two $500 grants, including one to the Bath Area Mobile Food Truck.

“A truckload of food costs $1,000 and they wanted to fund an entire truckload,” said Morris. “They jumped right in.”

The students held a bake sale and partnered with residents of Washington House, a senior citizen home in Bath. They had collected about $425 earlier this year when they visited the Bath Sunrise Rotary Club, which surprised them with a $75 donation to fill the gap.

Justin Collander, a junior from Phippsburg, said helping the program succeed, at least for this month, was rewarding.

“It’s raining out, but in my head it’s still sunny,” said Collander. “It just makes me feel better to do this.”

Toni Gregoire, a senior from Phippsburg who is president of leadership for Morse’s JMG program, said the activity helped open her eyes to the struggles of others.

“You get to meet every type of person out there from every situation,” she said. “I just don’t really take for granted what I have anymore.”

Norwalk Officer Pat English is donating use of his food truck, Hot Off The Grill, for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts in Queens. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ashley Gonzalez

NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk police officers will be traveling to the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens on Sunday morning to feed 700 people who have been hit by Hurricane Sandy.

They are asking for help in the form of food, supplies and money for those who have lost power and, in some cases, their homes.

The movement is being spearheaded by Lt. Ashley Gonzalez and Officer Pat English, who is donating the use of his food truck, Hot Off The Grill. They will arrive in Queens with other officers at about 7 a.m. and distribute hot sandwiches and supplies.

“There is a tremendous need for hot food down there,” Gonzalez said.

Another major need is gasoline. A lot of relief centers are running on generators, and many have no access to gas. They are asking people to donate legal gas cans and for anybody who can legally transport gas to help out.

They are also asking for supplies such as blankets, coats, hats, gloves, umbrellas, batteries, flashlights, generators, diapers, toiletries, baby food, canned food, paper towels and cleaning products. The donation drive is being coordinated with 596 Acres, which has a list of ways to help on its website.

Donations can be dropped off in the lobby of the Norwalk Police Department, 1 Monroe St. Any questions can be directed to Sgt. Lisa Cotto at lcotto@norwalkct.org.

http://norwalk.dailyvoice.com/news/norwalk-police-donating-food-storm-relief-queenshttp://norwalk.dailyvoice.com/news/norwalk-police-donating-food-storm-relief-queens