COVID-19 Q&A: Barbara Hughes, Executive Director, City Beet Kitchens
/How is Project Renewal’s food service program helping during the pandemic?
We’re feeding New Yorkers in need. We deliver daily meals to 31 nonprofit sites, including shelters and drop-in centers. Our impact is two-fold—we’re employing nearly 80 essential workers across our food programs, and we are providing healthy meals to vulnerable New Yorkers at a time when it’s more important than ever for people to have regular access to nutritious food.
Have you been able to meet the increased demand for meals?
Due to the state of the economy, our nonprofit catering clients are seeing an increase in demand for meals. Several have increased their orders, so we’ve expanded our service by 275 meals a day since the end of March. We are serving about 5,000 meals a day. I’m really proud that we haven't experienced any disruption to our service. We’ve even added three new clients to our roster. It’s a testament to our team’s dedication to feeding New Yorkers in need.
Barbara Hughes, Executive Director of Project Renewal’s City Beet Kitchens
Project Renewal’s social enterprise catering company, City Beet Kitchens, also caters events. How has that part of the business changed?
Event catering has changed dramatically. All of the events we had lined up for March, April, and May have been cancelled. But Charmaine Landicho Baechle, our Director of Events, has been adapting diligently and creatively. She launched Grateful Giving, an initiative where Project Renewal Board of Trustees and Junior Board members can donate our meals to health care workers at local hospitals like Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell.
As our city begins to open back up, we will continue to assess how we can pivot. In addition to coming to us for excellent service and delicious food, we hope people who are seeking catering will be drawn to our mission to employ New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness, incarceration, substance use disorder, and other challenges. Providing employment opportunities for low-income New Yorkers is more important than ever in our current economy, and we think that will resonate with customers.
How is your team responding?
The commitment of our team is inspiring. They wake up early and travel to our Industry City kitchen to do their jobs and feed people in need. We count our blessings—we still have jobs as essential workers, and we have a fantastic support system from Project Renewal leadership and the Board of Trustees. Many of our team members have been through immense challenges in life, from poverty to homelessness. They are very resilient and are motivated to get through this.
Beyond that, we’re working hard to stay up-to-date on the food world, including best practices and strategies for getting through this crisis. We are part of Catalyst Kitchens, a network of social enterprise businesses, and they have been great about sharing resources. As our industry evolves, we want to be sure we have our finger on the pulse and can adapt as needed.
Project Renewal’s Culinary Arts Training Program (CATP) prepares low-income New Yorkers for careers in the culinary field— how has that program adapted?
Our new class of CATP students was starting just as our city was shutting down, so we had to adjust quickly. John DeSimone, our lead CATP instructor, quickly set up daily live video classes using Zoom in tandem with Google Classrooms to create an immersive experience. He does cooking demonstrations and students submit videos of their own work for review. We have been pleased with the level of engagement from students and are striving to give them an experience that is as close to our regular classroom as possible.
How can people support your work?
We need all the help we can get, and we are so grateful that donors and supporters have stepped up at every level. Individuals can donate to Project Renewal or consider using us for events as restrictions are lifted. As corporations open back up, we would also love to help with their catering needs. We have been fortunate to receive grants and foundation support, including a generous donation from the Anahata Foundation to help feed vulnerable community members. We are grateful to the New York City Council, including Speaker Johnson, Council Member Deutsch, Council Member Cornegy, Council Member Powers, Council Member Levin, and Council Member Rivera, who have been incredibly supportive of our programming, and we hope they can continue to provide funding even during these difficult times.
About Barbara Hughes, Executive Director of City Beet Kitchens Ms. Hughes has been with Project Renewal since 1992, serving first as an instructor for the award-winning Culinary Arts Training Program. She later moved on to help launch Comfort Foods Catering in 1997 (now rebranded City Beet Kitchens), a social enterprise catering company employing formerly homeless individuals and preparing foods for both shelters and other organizations across the city. Ms. Hughes has more than 30 years of experience in the New York City restaurant industry and has spent much of her life as an activist for the HIV/AIDS community. She is currently the President of the Board of the Treatment Action Group, an independent AIDS research and policy think tank. Ms. Hughes earned a BA in Music from Chester State College.
