A Full Circle of Care for the Holidays
- by bonappetit
Sharing a meal with Unconditional Freedom’s Free Food initiative.
At Bon Appétit Management Company, our commitments to hospitality and to supporting our local farms and food producers are daily reminders of how much we value care as a company. Taking a holistic view of caring—for land, communities, and people—helps us keep the big picture of our work in mind. Every year for the holidays, we choose an organization whose mission aligns with our own and give a gift on behalf of our clients. In recent years, we’ve given to an organization working to ensure workers’ rights in the international seafood industry, a youth-led food entrepreneurship program, and an international clean water project led by our partners at World Central Kitchen.
This year, in the spirit of caring, we’ve donated to three organizations around the country that together, create a full circle of care. These organizations protect farmland and promote regenerative agriculture; empower people to cultivate food sovereignty and economic justice in their community; and provide unhoused and food insecure people with restaurant-style meals, served with the care and respect they deserve. The organizations are:
Agrarian Trust protects farmland while advancing cultural, ecological, and economic justice. The Trust’s Agrarian Commons initiative holds land to convey affordable and equitable tenure for the purpose of regenerative farming, supporting secure local food access, ecological sustainability, and community benefit. Our gift will support Agrarian Trust’s efforts to create land access opportunities for next-generation farmers and develop land stewardship agreements with community-led Agrarian Commons projects in multiple states.
Planting Justice’s mission is to empower youth and adults impacted by mass incarceration and other social inequities with the skills and resources to cultivate food sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing. Our gift will support Planting Justice’s re-entry and workforce development programs at their two-acre nursery, four-acre propagation orchard, future three-acre Aquaponics Farm & Training Center, and Good Table pay-as-you-can café / industrial kitchen / nursery. It will also support their Food Sovereignty Youth Leadership Program, which engages hundreds of Oakland, CA students in neighborhoods impacted by food apartheid to grow and distribute their own produce.
Unconditional Freedom’s Free Food Initiative uses nourishing and delicious food as a vehicle to deliver love with dignity. They operate a completely free sit-down restaurant serving those without homes, people who are food-insecure, families, veterans, and anyone in need of a warm meal. Many of Unconditional Freedom’s guests feel invisible in their daily lives, but when they come to the restaurant, they are greeted and served an elegant three-course meal with care, attention and respect. Our gift will support continued operations of the restaurant with the intention of expanding the number of meals served in the future.
We’re pleased to offer these gifts on behalf of our clients, in appreciation for their ongoing trust and partnership. Happy holidays from Bon Appétit!