Wednesday, April 22nd’s Hometown Hero is Sam Fore. Sam has worked as a web consultant for the Lee Initiative in the past, while also advising their mentees on strategies to further their careers as female chefs. When the crisis started, Sam lost all culinary bookings and turned to web work to get by — she launched Sick-KY.com and went into pro bono web work in full gear, creating pay as you go charity sites for Castle & Key (for Foodchain) and other nonprofits. The Lee Initiative started to expand beyond their expectations and surged to other chefs and cities.
When the opportunity and desire to feed others arose, Tuk Tuk (Sam’s company) partnered with the businesses behind LexUnite (Great Bagel, Branded 78, Atomic Ramen) to serve Lexington as quickly as possible, as at the time only a few programs were up and running. They launched their center within 4 days, and currently serve an average of 300 meals a night while gainfully employing out of work kitchen and service staff in a safe, socially distanced environment. Lara and Robert Swan have worked the Lee Initiative drops daily, and have graciously allowed them to use their space as a distribution center; they run day to day operations on the ground while staffing and sourcing. Sam is a full time Director of Tech for the Lee Initiative now, and she routes and sorts the nation’s online donations. Team member Koehler Slagel has supported the Lee Initiative with exceptional video and social media work. Dan Wu has solicited and secured physical and monetary donations, his most recent from the Bluegrass Community Foundation.
In partnership with Maker’s Mark, The Lee Initiative and Chef Edward Lee, Sam and her counterparts turned Great Bagel’s Boston Road location into a relief center with local chefs for any hospitatity worker who has been laid off or has had a significant reduction in hours and/or pay. We offer help for those in need of food and supplies. Each night, they pack hundreds of to-go meals that people can come to pick up and take home. To date, they have served over 6,000 meals. Nationwide the program has served 100,000 meals. In our early weeks they were supported by Creation Gardens and UK Dining, and Jeff Ruby’s recently stepped up with a pledge of $10,000. They are a small operation, so they ensure that every donation dollar goes right back out in the form of produce or needed supplies. They can always use non perishables, cleaning supplies, personal care items, pantry items and other distributable sundries.
Brought to you by Republic Bank and Clark’s Pump N Shop!
