Southern Smoke Foundation

As we kick off the holiday season, we invite you to dive into our latest newsletter! ✨ This special issue highlights our achievements over the past year in expanding access to mental health services and lifting food and beverage workers out of crisis nationwide. We are proud to share that we have distributed over $2.7 million directly to food and beverage workers across the nation in 2024. Join us in celebrating the incredible efforts of everyone who made this possible. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

SSF in the spotlight!  ✨ We’re deeply grateful to Southern Foodways Alliance and @the gravy podcastfor dedicating this powerful podcast episode to sharing our mission at Southern Smoke Foundation. This story captures the heart of what we do: standing by our F+B  family nationwide in their times of need. From providing mental health support to emergency relief, every part of our work is fueled by the belief that no restaurant worker should face hardship alone, and that everyone who has built a career out of serving others should have a safety net that serves them. Thank you for helping us spread the word and for supporting our commitment to #TakeCareofOurOwn across the country. Listen to the full episode and join us in supporting the incredible people who make up this industry we all love. 👇

So proud of one half of SSF’s emotional support team Beans for making it to the Wine Enthusiast Future 40–not too shabby that our founding director Chris Shepherd also made the cut! 🎉 Every year, Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 list recognizes a diverse set of tastemakers who are bringing the drinks business into the future. The Future 40 honorees inspire innovation. Among them are winemakers, educators, brewers, sommeliers, viticulturalists, founders, conservationists, lawyers and other professionals who find unique ways to open doors and build bridges in the industry. A huge round of a-paws to this impressive list of innovators, including our friends Ann Marshall, Kelsey Kramer, and Sarah Bray. Next year, may we suggest the Feline 40? #WEFuture40

SSF 🤝 FWFWF We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation, bringing emergency relief funds to food and beverage workers across Tarrant county. FWFW has generously donated $25,000 to make this possible, and we’re so grateful for their support. To kick it off, SSF co-founders Chris Shepherd and Lindsey Brown headed over to Fort Worth to talk about how Southern Smoke continues to support food and beverage workers in Texas and nationwide. Thank you to FWFWF for hosting SSF in your city!

BIG things are happening at Southern Smoke Foundation! Thank you to Eater Houston and Brittany Britto Garley for highlighting our recent funding milestone. ✨⁠ ⁠ SSF is on track to double our aid to food and beverage workers this year, and we need your help to make it happen. In 2024 to date, we’ve granted just over $1 million to F+B workers in crisis, already surpassing our total funds distributed during all of 2023. On Monday, we launched our Behind You no-cost mental health program in five additional states plus Washington, D.C., all while funding an unprecedented number of individuals applying for assistance following Houston’s Hurricane Beryl, wildfires in Ruidoso, NM, and other recent disasters. ⁠ ⁠ A generous donor has offered to match up to $25K in donations to help us sustain our efforts and help more folks in our industry than ever before. Will you double your impact and donate to Southern Smoke Foundation today to support the F+B industry? Thank you for helping us #TakeCareofOurOwn.

We are BEHIND YOU! We worked with Principle to revamp the branding for our mental health program Behind You, and we’re thrilled with the results–a simple graphic that says so much about why we do this. With Behind You, we are furthering our mission to create a healthier and more sustainable food and beverage (F+B) industry by providing access to no-cost counseling to F+B workers across several states to ensure that our people are taken care of. The tray–a symbol of service and support–lets F+B workers know that we are behind them through challenging times. Thank you, Principle, for bringing your creativity and passion to this program that means so much to us. More to come, including an updated landing page and exciting announcements just in time for #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth in May!

We made it to the science fair! 🧠 Over the weekend, our Behind You university partner from LSU Matthew Calamia, PhD, presented at the Association of Psychology Training Clinics (APTC) conference, discussing the impact of our mental health program. The highlight was an informational poster created by the SSF team and showcased during the conference. We hope it helped raise awareness and interest with universities nationwide to partner with us and expand the program! Our Behind You clients are given access to no-cost counseling sessions provided by graduate-level clinicians overseen by licensed mental health professionals. Southern Smoke Foundation links applicants and our university partners, placing F+B workers in the skilled care of mental health clinicians for in-person and telehealth counseling sessions. Thank you to the APTC for allowing us to be a part of your annual conference and share the results of our partners' continued work. Behind You wouldn’t be possible without our relationships with university training clinics and the dedicated clinicians working to support the mental health of F+B workers every day.

Introducing our brand new Emergency Relief Fund landing page! Here, you’ll find more information about how to qualify and apply for funding. You can expect to hear from a real human being on our team, who will walk you through the process of receiving fast, flexible funding for whatever emergency you’re facing. Even if you don’t qualify for funds when you apply, we’ll explain how you can next time. We’ll also point you to trusted resources in your region that can help. Click the link in our bio to take the first step towards getting funded. We’re here for you! 💛

Wow! Last night was a dream thanks to Euphoria Greenville and their dedication to F+B workers nationwide. Our executive director Lindsey Brown and founding director Chris Shepherd had the privilege of accepting $10,000 from Euphoria Greenville for our programs after a magical guest chef dinner with Chris and Chef Michael Kramer of Jianna We had the best time connecting with the Greenville community and sharing information about how Southern Smoke Foundation takes care of our own in South Carolina and across the country. Euphoria Greenville, it was truly an honor. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 💛

It’s time for another board member spotlight! Please join us in giving a big round of thanks to these individuals for their continued service to the Southern Smoke board– When Petter Pettersen relocated to Houston from Oslo, Norway in 2011, he quickly fell in love with the city’s diverse culinary community. Petter currently holds a Global Product Executive and local leadership role with AIG, focused on catastrophic insurance within the energy industry, and as our Immediate Past President, Petter serves as an important resource to our leadership team. Chree Boydstun is the Chief Development Officer at Legacy Community Health, a lifetime member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and was named one of Houston's 50 Most Influential Women in 2018 by Houston Woman Magazine. In her over 20 year-long career in fundraising, Chree has raised more than $150 million for disadvantaged communities. Known for her ability to create managers, lead large teams, and encourage the growth of women and minorities in business, Ikimi Dubose is the co-founder of Roots Fund, a nonprofit for BIPOC to secure education and careers in the wine industry. From leading sustainable food initiatives to creating a global food hall in Washington, D.C. Ikimi’s leadership and passion are incredible assets to our board. As she says, “When there is no room for me at the table, I usually stand on the table.” Aaron Franklin has been serving up his world-famous barbecue at Southern Smoke Festival since day one. As the co-owner of Franklin Barbecue, Aaron is widely regarded as one of the most influential pitmasters in the U.S., and received a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2015. In 2017, he partnered with James Moody and Mike Thelin to launch Hot Luck Festival in Austin, TX, which supports SSF each year. Thank you all for your dedication to the F+B industry and your commitment to helping us #TakeCareofOurOwn nationwide! 👏