Chicagoland Worker Relief Fund by AldA

Hello! Our names are Yejin and Aaron. Many in the LaGrange/Chicagoland area and farmer’s market community know us as the owners of the mobile bibimbap and catering company, AldA Food. Our company was on our off-season before this epidemic and we are lucky that we had no employees that depended on us for their livelihoods. We don’t have many of the overhead costs that loom over many restaurants and small business owners still while shut down. So we are not asking for your help as a business, but as a part of a larger industry that we love and have both been a part of our entire adult lives. The employees of it, many of whom have never been able to ensure financial safety nets, are hurting RIGHT NOW. To do our part, we’re doing what we can while still socially isolated. We will be regularly posting what will hopefully be fun and accessible at-home cooking and food-related videos in the hopes that it brings a little joy, creativity, and deliciousness to your homes in these times. The goal of these is to help you cook with what you have on hand and shop mindfully so that we can all limit our trips outside. PLEASE COMMENT OR PRIVATE MESSAGE US with any questions about viable substitutes for any equipment or ingredients we may be using! We are here to help. We hope that those with the means feel inclined to “tip” by "buying us a coffee" and 100% of these tips will be donated directly to local employees affected by the CO-VID 19 crisis. If you’d like to “commission” any specific dishes, you can do so here or private message us through any social media platform or through our website, aldafood.com. Under the "Commissions" tab, we have posted several options to give you some ideas. These and any requests will be priced according to the specific dishes and all proceeds not used for the ingredients required to make the commission will go directly to the fund. Be rest assured that we have experience food-costing and those prices are such that we can allocate at least 50% to the fund. None of this will be going to us or our business. If you or someone you know is in need because of the mandated shutdowns or because your options are limited due to a sick or at-risk family member, please reach out. We trust that our LaGrange/Chicagoland community will do anything they can to help. We have been so inspired by the call-to action to help small businesses by individuals on local pages such as NextDoor and the Moms of LaGrange, Western Springs FB page. We don’t know how long this will last. We don’t know how much this will raise but any amount will help. The only thing we know is that we are still and always will be cooks before anything else. We look after our own. As the late Anthony Bourdain said: “There’s no lying in the kitchen. The restaurant kitchen may indeed be the last, glorious meritocracy—where anybody with the skills and the heart is welcomed.” Keep this industry alive. We choose to serve others because we seek and find joy in keeping people fed and happy. Give us the opportunity to bounce back from this by helping us weather the storm. Thank you.

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