Umi, the upscale sushi restaurant in Buckhead, is celebrating its seventh anniversary by giving away cold hard cash to a family in need. The promotion, which was detailed in a post on the restaurant’s Instagram account, enables Umi followers to nominate a person or family who has been put in “dire financial need” by the coronavirus crisis. The winner of the prize, as determined by the team at Umi, will receive $7,000 from the restaurant, with no strings attached.
To submit a nomination, individuals must follow Umi on Instagram (@umisuhiatl) and send the restaurant a direct message that tells the family’s story of financial hardship. Submissions will be accepted through May 31. After the submission window closes, Umi’s staff will collectively review and vote “on the deserving recipient.” In an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a restaurant representative said, “As these matters are subjective, Umi will do due diligence to guarantee a person in true need receives the assistance.”
The winner of the $7,000 prize will be revealed on Umi’s Instagram by June 5. While Umi has promised to award the full amount to the selected prize winner, the restaurant raised money for the cause over Memorial Day weekend, allocating 7% of all sales May 23-25 to the purse.
More good food deeds:
Global consumer packaged goods conglomerate Unilever, through its packaged foods brands Knorr, is donating free boxed lunches to workers at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. As unemployment spikes due to the coronavrius pandemic, more people than ever rely on community food banks for their basic grocery needs. Knorr, along with its charitable partner Feeding America, is purchasing catered box lunches from local restaurants in all 50 states and giving 11,000 meals to food bank workers who face the front line of the pandemic every day. In Atlanta, workers at the Atlanta Community Food Bank will receive box lunches from College Park soul food restaurant Big Daddy's Dish. To learn more about Unilever's charitable efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit weareunitedforamerica.com.
Wholesome Wave Georgia has distributed $20,000 worth of Walmart fresh food gift cards among 800 recipients in East Point, Hapeville and College Park. Each gift card, to be spent on fruits and vegetables, is valued at $25 and provides emergency assistance to urban families in need. Learn more about Wholesome Wave and donate at wholesomewavegeorgia.org.
Last week, three Atlanta restaurants celebrated Class of 2020 high school graduates with a special care package giveaway. Nouveau Bar & Grill, Nancy’s Pizza and Harold’s Chicken & Ice Bar held an event for graduating students and their families that included a giveaway of food, gifts, necessities like masks and hand sanitizer and, for about 50 lucky graduates, $200 in cash. The event took place at Nouveau Bar & Grill on Main Street in College Park on May 22, and was open to students graduating from Benjamin Banneker High School, Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School and Langston Hughes High School. The afternoon also featured celebrity appearances from Tameka “Tiny” Harris from VH1’s “T.I. & Tiny” and other reality stars from VH1, Bravo and Lifetime.
South African sandwich shop Zunzi's is donating a large portion of its May 26 sales to the Atlanta Community Food Bank and America's Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia. The restaurant, which has locations in Atlanta and Savannah, designates the 26th day of each month as Zunzifest. Those days, Zunzi's donates 26% of its sales to a specific charity, with new charities chosen each month. This May, the restaurant will donate to food banks in both Atlanta and Savannah, despite the Atlanta location reopening recently after closing for several weeks due to the coronavirus crisis. Zunzifest orders can be placed online or via the restaurant's mobile app. Customers placing their first order can use the code NEWBIE for 26% off their total. Why is 26 so important to Zunzi's? The letter Z is the 26th letter in the alphabet. Zunzifest ordering is available until 9 p.m. tonight at zunzis.com.
The Good Food Media Network has announced its June lineup for its virtual dinner series and it features an Atlanta chef. The nonprofit organization, known for its Good Food 100 list of restaurants who "positively impact every link of the food chain," is streaming a series of conversations between chefs, producers and purveyors about saving good food. On June 30, chef Steven Satterfield of Miller Union will participate in a talk called "Save Good Fruit & Veggies." The discussion will be moderated by Good Food Media co-founder Sara Brito and feature chef Caroline Glover and farmer Chris Corrigan in addition to Satterfield. The live conversation will be streamed on online meeting platform Zoom; register for the talk at goodfood100restaurants.org/events.
ATL Family Meal continues to deliver to out-of-work hospitality professionals even as some restaurants have begun to reopen. To date, the grassroots organization of local restaurateurs has distributed more than 35,000 meals to food service workers from more than 200 Georgia restaurants. ATL Family Meal has also partnered with the Latin American Association to serve nearly 300 family meals in Dunwoody and on Buford Highway. Thanks to the organization's good work, ATL Family Meal has received a grant of $10,000 from the Greater Atlanta COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, a joint effort by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and United Way of Greater Atlanta. To learn more and donate to the cause, visit atlfamilymeal.org.
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