The organizers of the project have served 3,500 meals to date.
February 25, 2021
Chef Jae Jung serving gumbo with the Wide Awakes Mobile Soup Kitchen. Photo courtesy of the Wide Awakes Mobile Soup Kitchen.
In the wake of the 2020 US presidential election, art-world activist collective the Wide Awakes remains dedicated to its collaborative pursuit of greater justice, democracy, and welfare for all. To that end, members have launched the Wide Awakes Mobile Soup Kitchen, a food truck-cum-art project that serves free meals in some of New York City’s most vulnerable communities.
Each Saturday this month, the truck is partnering with the Brooklyn Museum to serve different areas of the borough. It’s also bringing art to the public with a vehicle covered in artworks by Azikiwe Mohammed, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Yto Barrada, Jose De Jesus Rodriguez, and Shepard Fairey. It has served up some 3,500 meals to date.
Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
NYC fast food workers set to secure new protections
A pair of City Council bills set to pass later today will protect the city’s fast food workers from being fired without cause and require chain restaurants to take employment seniority into account before firing someone due to economic reasons, the
New York Daily Newsreports.
Council members Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams introduced the bills, respectively, last year. This proposed legislation, which is aimed at chains with 30 or more locations, includes Lander’s bill requiring employers to take disciplinary steps before firing an employee and provide a written explanation for termination, when it does not concern misconduct or a failure to perform the job. Adams’s measure takes another step to protect essential workers, which fast food employees fall under, by adding seniority as a requirement when employees are let go because of financ