Dear friends,
We (Cindy, my dad, my siblings, and Eric) wanted to best leverage “effective altruism” during this tough time through this grassroots initiative to feed the front line workers, health care workers, and supporting small family owned restaurants/mom & pop shops.
If you have a little to spare, consider directing your money to “Long Hai Feeds You” grassroots campaign. Your donation will:
Provide food for health care workers and other workers on the frontlines. My dad at Long Hai Restaurant (25 year family owned Vietnamese local restaurant) will cook the meals with love and care for Fountain Valley Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital ICU, Kaiser Urgent Care, VITAS Hospice, Team Rubicon, Community Action Partnership of Orange County, Los Alamitos Medical Center, and other health care and frontline workers in Orange County California.
We hope that in this difficult time, the meals will boost the strength and morale of those on the medical front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to care for patients and keep the community safe.
Donate Now
Donate however much you can spare on Paypal here. For every $10 you donate, you feed one health care worker at the front line. Also note Paypal accepts credit cards and debit cards. We suggest the following donations:
- A $10 donation will feed one front line medical worker for one meal.
- A $50 donation will feed five front line medical workers for a meal.
- A $100 donation will feed 10 workers.
- A (very generous) $1000 donation will provide 100 meals.
*If you want to Venmo your donation, please send it to @cindyanguyen on Venmo. (Venmo is a great option because it’s fast and does not take a percentage fee.)
If you have any questions regarding donation, please email dinelonghai@gmail.com
Also note please be patient with your donation, considering there is just a very small family-led team handling the logistics and donation! Thank you very much for understanding.
Your Donation Effectiveness
- A $10 donation will feed one front line medical worker for one meal.
- A $50 donation will feed five front line medical workers for a meal.
- A $100 donation will feed 10 workers.
- A (very generous) $1000 donation will provide 100 meals.
Long Hai Restaurant (my dad, the only person working at the restaurant right now) is making these meals at cost in order to help those in need at this time. The donation will cover the cost of food, electricity, rent, supplies, and his labor. Cindy, Eric, and my siblings are volunteering to help with logistics. We will continue for as long as possible and needed.
Donate what you can here.
How Else Can You Help?
- Share this website and link with friends and family. Post to Facebook, twitter, e-mail, WhatsApp, and message to friends.
- Are you a hospital and accepting meals at this time? Help to coordinate meals by volunteering to be the meal coordinator (to take orders, place the order, and pick up and drop off meals). E-mail us at dinelonghai@gmail.com to organize.
Times are tough, but your contribution makes a difference. You can be the catalyst and the first mover for change. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.
Cindy, Eric, and Trung Nguyen (Cindy’s dad, owner of Long Hai Restaurant)
Number of Meals Donated So Far through “Long Hai Feeds You”: 347 Meals (as of July 23, 2020)
Groups fed through the “Long Hai Feeds You” program
- Fountain Valley Hospital Emergency Room
- Orange County Emergency and Urgent Care – Kaiser
- VITAS Hospice Irvine Office (Thank you also for buying additional meals of support for your office staff!)
- St. Joseph Hospital ICU
- Team Rubicon & Community Action Partnership of Orange County
- Los Alamitos Medical Centers OR and Surgery team
- Orange County Global Medical Center
Long Hai Feeds the Frontlines
My Dad Explains His Love for Cooking for Others
My dad’s personal philosophy on why he cooks, and why Vietnamese food is good for the soul. I made this film many years ago (when I still still in college!)
Why I want to Help in Any Way Possible
What inspired and motivated me to help feed the front lines, and also support my dad?
From My Essay on Living through History: War, Human Agency, and Non-Future (April 3, 2020)
I received news that my father in California is on the brink of closing our family restaurant of 25 years and unable to pay his basic living expenses. A complete reorientation of priorities: I spend every waking moment moving between frantic research and existential guilt. My partner and I figure out how to cut more expenses, apply to grants and loans, encourage customers to order take out from the restaurant via social media. All the while, everything. just. hurts. The guilt that my during-COVID life has been overall, manageable. The sadness that I am not there in California. The anger that my father already lived through a time of unfathomable injustice and uncertainty. The surrender to an inescapable future of difficulty and pain.
What I want to know is what it means to move past history. How did my parents do it? How did they survive, support four kids with nothing, and create a life and new opportunities for their kids? I am searching for that boundless power, that hope to hold onto, that rational deployment of my skills and any tools I have access to. What do I do? I continue to minimize all inessential expenses and direct that money to support small businesses and other vulnerable populations. I continue to check in with my loved ones and to tell them how much I love and miss them. I continue to take care of my health. I continue to be grateful for my health and community. I continue to be strong and vulnerable with my students and colleagues. I continue to write and make sense of this world.
I continue.
Feed the Front Lines Here
We value all of your donations. Every little bit helps! You can donate however much you can spare here.
- A $10 donation will feed one front line medical worker for one meal.
- A $50 donation will feed five front line medical workers for a meal.
- A $100 donation will feed 10 workers.
- A (very generous) $1000 donation will provide 100 meals.
Thank you once again so much for your support and generosity. Your donation provides these meals at-cost, and 100% of your money is directed towards helping front-line medical workers and also keeping the doors open for my father’s one-man-show restaurant (Long Hai Restaurant) during this difficult time.
Cindy A. Nguyen 