fbpx

PROFILE Mimi Edelman, board member and farmer. SFEE is here to help

Jun 21, 2020 | In The News

Recently we’ve written about two of our initiatives — donations to local food pantries and funds to our Snail of Approval restaurants — all made possible through your generosity. So far, 14 grants have been awarded. Here is one story of how a grant will be used with others to come in the weeks ahead. You can help by donating to SFEE.
  
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi
  
Mimi Edelman has been a farmer for 11 years, at first in Hudson County and, for the last three years, in Orient. She exemplifies the quote above as she reimagines her business in this challenging time as so many others are doing.
 
IandMe Farm, on Terry family land, is a two-acre property growing organic and biodynamic crops with views spanning from the Sound to the Bay. Over the last three years, Mimi worked with like -minded chefs locally and in New York City to grow crops requested by chefs during menu planning sessions in the winter months. The business was growing and gaining a following… then the pandemic hit. Restaurants closed with no opening in sight at the time.
 
During this period of uncertainty, Mimi picked herself up, began speaking with friends and colleagues and slowly began to create a new vision for her farm. Along the way she established important partnerships with purveyors like Peeko Oysters and North Fork Flower Farm. She would now expand beyond chefs and begin serving local consumers by growing crops that as she puts it “spark creativity, delight the palate and introduce new foods with flavors and aromas that people may not be as familiar with.” Harvest boxes filled with these out-of-the-ordinary vegetables, herbs, microgreens and shoots will be grown and then either delivered or picked up by the consumer.
 
When Slow Food provided a grant of $500, Mimi knew exactly how she would use it: to build a communications channel to her customers by designing a website describing her products and the philosophy which guides her choices. “This grant really jump started my ability to reach my customer and I am most grateful to Slow Food East End and their members who genuinely care about local food providers, particularly in times of need.” Take a moment to see what the website offers by visiting iandmefarm.com.
 
Right now, there are many struggling small businesses like Mimi’s that may never be built back because of lack of money and support. Won’t you please donate to SFEE to ensure our East End home can once again thrive and return to normal. You can help by donating to SFEE.

WATCH: Slow Food East End Helps Restaurants Pay Staff

Jun 6, 2020 | In The News

Laura Luciano, right, presents a check for $1,000 to Jason Weiner of Almond restaurant. 

Local governments are looking to permit outdoor dining where they haven’t before. That’s a good thing for Jason Weiner, chef/owner at Almond in Bridgehampton, who has been riding out the pandemic by serving takeout from his market next door three nights a week.
He applied for the payroll protection program, but the procedures and restrictions made the program hard to navigate. He still had to find a way to keep paying staff, including a long serving line cook, who had gotten sick.
Slow Food East End was happy to help with a donation of $1,000. You can help by donating to SFEE.
“The grant was elemental,” says Weiner. “We used a good chunk of it for our cook, who lives in a multigenerational house and contracted COVID-19. And we used a piece for a program we’re continuing for school lunches.”
Almond is one of the eight restaurants ­— including the Bell & Anchor, Art of Eating, 18 Bay, Estia’s, Noah’s, Love Lane Kitchen, Nick & Toni’s — on the East End that SFEE has awarded a Snail of Approval.
“We want to support them,” says SFEE chair Pennie Schwartz, “because of all they do to support us.”
Earning a Snail of Approval is not an easy task. A restaurant, caterer or farm stand must be recommended by a SFEE member and then fill out an extensive form, before a vote by the board. According to our website, “Snail of Approval is awarded to businesses that incorporate the Slow Food ideals of Good, Clean & Fair food. When customers choose a restaurant awarded with the SoA, they know they are consuming quality food that is mostly local and sustainably raised or grown.”
“Slow Food is really part of a crew of fellow travelers of farmers and fishers and cooks on the East End,” says Weiner. “It gives us moral support and shares our values.” He adds, “We’re all spokes of the same wheel and Slow Food is one of the hubs.”

UPDATE: Food Pantry Donations

May 26, 2020 | In The News

With your help, SFEE is feeding the community during this crisis. We committed to donate $15,000 to food pantries on the East End. You can donate to all the pantries too!

We recently told you about our donation to CAST (Community Action Southold Town) in Greenport. Next stop was St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach and Bread and More Soup Kitchen at the First Congregational Church, both in Riverhead.

Demand has doubled at St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach. According to their website, in April food was supplied to 266 people, which fed about 1,000 individuals. The pantry is run by Sr. Margaret Smythe, who for decades has ministered to the community, particularly immigrants, on the East End. At a point when most people are thinking of retirement, Sr. Margaret — who is known for her energy and the connection she has with the people she serves — has no such intention! Photo above of Sr. Margaret in the St. John the Evangelist Parish Outreach food pantry by Denise Civiletti.

Bread and More Soup Kitchen at the First Congregational Church of Riverhead can no longer serve sit-down meals inside the church and has been distributing them at the kitchen door. According to the RiverheadLocal Judy Barth, a volunteer with the soup kitchen, said “After the indoor meals were discontinued, at first only about 10 people were picking up to-go meals. As the availability of the service became known through word of mouth, the number of people served jumped up to 50.”

SFEE has been able to help these pantries, as well as others, only through the generous donations of our members which continue to come in each day. Each organization has sent a loud and clear Thank You for the assistance which they greatly need and appreciate at this unprecedented time. Stay tuned for an update on our South Fork pantry donations soon.

You can help us match our $15,000 donation to benefit all food pantries on the East End.

Food Pantries and 400 Chickens, So Far

May 20, 2020 | In The News

SFEE is working to feed people during this crisis. We committed to donate $15,000 to food pantries on the East End . You can donate to all the pantries too ! One of our projects is to help CAST (Community Action Southold Town), in Greenport, which serves the community on the North Fork. First stop with CAST was a donation of 200 fresh chickens to clients. The second chicken donation went to one of the Sunday dinners at Holy Trinity Church in Greenport.

“Those dinners feed on average 300 community members,” says Cathy Demeroto, executive director of CAST, who adds the number of their clients has risen by 25 percent since the start of the pandemic. “Our food costs have increased from $1,200 to $7,000,” she says. “The community has been extremely generous, but I am concerned if this continues we will not be able to maintain this into the fall.”

CAST has pantries at their offices in Greenport, the Holy Trinity Church, North Fork Episcopal Ministries; their mobile unit delivers to the homebound. You can help us match our $15,000 donation to benefit all food pantries on the East End.
Donate Here!

We are asking our members and supporters  to match our effort of $15,000 for the food pantries.

Give what you can. Click to Give the Gift of Food