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Southern Smoke boosts efforts across NC
Everyone has their go-to grub spot. Maybe it’s an old diner with sticky booths and a red-haired waitress who calls you “shug.” Or perhaps it’s a neighborhood brewery with string lights and bearded bartenders. At places like these, the staff takes care of you—but who takes care of the staff?
In 2015, Lindsey Brown and her husband James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd found themselves asking this same question. And, so, the Southern Smoke Foundation was born.
Almost 10 years later, Brown, now the executive director, finds the national foundation’s mission more important than ever. “[Restaurants are] the place where all of your life’s events take place, and it matters to take care of the people working there,” she says.
The org does this by putting money directly into the pockets of F&B workers, plus providing mental health services to qualifying applicants working 30+ hours per week for at least six months.
Most recently, the foundation provided $680,800 and counting in aid to workers affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with $240K of that raised in the Triangle alone.
While recent years have brought a fair share of natural disasters, this aid isn’t just for weathering the storm. Brown wants applicants to know Southern Smoke is there for them in every capacity—eviction, health challenges and beyond.
“We always want to lead with empathy,” she emphasizes, “… to find ways to fund people.”
Looking to 2025, the foundation is turning up the heat in NC. Its program Behind You—named for the constantly uttered kitchen phrase—aims to partner with a state university system to connect F&B workers with PhD psychology candidates for counseling.
Having lived the grind themselves, Brown and Shepherd know all too well the toll of long hours and paycheck-to-paycheck living. They know the industry takes care of its own—and given the strong support from restaurants so far, Brown is excited about what’s next: “It feels like we’re just getting started.” southernsmoke.org
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