Within days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, food companies large and small jumped into action with fundraisers, donations, and other activities to support organizations that are seeking to assist people inside Ukraine and those who have fled as refugees.
The Fresh Market, for example, last week launched a four-week fundraiser to support World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit launched by chef José Andrés, which is proving meals for Ukrainian refugees at the border with Poland. The Greensboro, South Carolina-based retailer is offering customers the opportunity to round up their total at the register, purchase a pack of sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine, or purchase a special bouquet featuring the blue and yellow of the country's flag.
“We are profoundly moved by the efforts being made by World Central Kitchen and the volunteer chefs who are providing a warm meal and food stability to the Ukrainian people who are fleeing their homes and homeland,” said Jason Potter, CEO of The Fresh Market, in a statement.
The move follows other fundraising efforts and donations made by grocery chains, including Publix Super Markets, H-E-B, Southeastern Grocers, Kroger, and SpartanNash. Many independents and smaller retailers have also been conducting fundraisers, including an effort led by the National Co+op Grocers, which partnered with the Cooperative Development Foundation and the National Cooperative Business Association to raise funds for the Ukrainian cooperative community.
Food manufacturers have also joined the Ukraine relief efforts, including Hunt Valley, Maryland-based seasonings and condiments maker McCormick & Co., which has suspended all of its operations in Russia and is supporting World Central Kitchen and the Polish Center for International Aid.
This week, Smithfield, Virginia-based meat company Smithfield Foods announced cash and in-kind donations totaling $2 million to crisis relief efforts to several nonprofit disaster-relief organizations. Smithfield has operations in seven countries, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and the U.K., in addition to the U.S. and Mexico.
“As the majority of refugees have fled to countries bordering Ukraine where our businesses are located, we feel a heightened responsibility at Smithfield Europe to provide holistic support during this tragic time,” said Luis Cerdan, executive vice president of European operations for Smithfield Foods, in a press release.
Likewise, Goya Europa, the European arm of Jersey City, New Jersey-based Goya Foods, said last month as the war began that it would distribute hundreds of thousands of pounds of food to the people of Ukraine through its Goya Gives initiative.
All across the U.S., grassroots fundraisers at restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and specialty food stores have also launched efforts to support the Ukrainian victims of the war.
Six Dutchess Farm, a small-batch farm specializing in baked goods, flowers, berries and other items in Lagrangeville, New York, raised $24,500 from customers who paid to attend a live Ukrainian bake-a-thon fundraiser via Zoom on March 20. Jennifer Kouvant, co-owner, said in an Instagram video that the farm donated 100 percent of the proceeds to three charities: World Central Kitchen, CARE and Razom, a nonprofit Ukrainian organization raising funds to support the country’s military, hospitals and war relief efforts.
“We are all donating our time and our resources to make sure that everything goes to Ukraine,” she said.
Baking for Ukraine
In fact, baking has become a vehicle for fundraising efforts around the world, as the Bake for Ukraine initiative has taken off. Launched as an offshoot of Bakers Against Racism, Bake for Ukraine is encouraging bakers and pastry chefs, both amateur and professional, to conduct bake sales in support of Ukraine relief.
In the same vein, earlier this month bakeries across the U.S. and Europe participated in Hamantatashen for Ukraine, a fundraising effort in which the bakeries sold hamantashen, triangular cookies traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim, to raise funds for Polish Humanitarian Action, which is assisting Ukrainian refugees at the border.
“People want to do good, and be a part of something bigger than themselves, which is what we’re all about,” said Mike Silva, co-owner of Rude Boy Cookies in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in an interview with local TV station KOAT, who said his phones were “ringing nonstop” during his Hamantashen for Ukraine cookie sale.
Restaurants across the country have also conducted a variety of fundraising efforts, made donations, and promoted awareness.
Veselka, the iconic Ukrainian restaurant in Manhattan, said all proceeds from its sales of borscht, a sour soup traditionally made with beets and popular in Eastern Europe, will be donated through Razom For Ukraine. The restaurant is also encouraging customers to donate needed supplies such as first aid kits, packaged foods, and other items at its East Village restaurant.
In Chicago, home to the nation’s second-largest Ukrainian population outside New York, James Beard Award-winning chef Johnny Clark converted the menu at his Wherewithall restaurant to feature all-Ukrainian dishes for two weeks. The chef, whose Ukrainian grandmother survived previous wars in Ukraine before coming to the U.S., donated $4 from each customer to Razom for humanitarian aid, raising a total of more than $1,500, he said in an Instagram post.
“As a Ukrainian American, one way I can show support for my Ukrainian brothers and sisters during this horrific act of war is to cook the food that my babushka would cook for me,” Clark said.
Related: H-E-B Donates $1 Million to Help People of Ukraine; Publix Launches Donation Program to Support Ukraine.