barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

“Children pick up what is around
them. They learn by watching. If
we want our kids to be kind
people, they have to see people
being kind.”
Tell us about your vegan journey…
My sister was given a baby chick for Easter in her school.
We took care of this baby chick and he grew into an
amazing rooster who came when called, who liked to
cuddle, who was a member of our family. Piolín (Spanish
word for Tweety Bird) changed the way I thought about
food, and he started me on the path of veganism. As I
became an activist later and helped some people transition
to veganism, and as I raise my son vegan, I think about all
the animals this one particular rooster saved, and it is sort
of amazing how powerful love can be. The love that he
showed me changed me, and has allowed me to change
others.
What was it about the plight of the homeless
in particular that spurred you into setting up
Chilis On Wheels?
In the beginning, our work did not have a name. I wanted
my son, Ollie, who is four years old, to experience
volunteer work with people. We are always talking about
veganism and the plight of animals, and I realised that he
needed to understand the plight of people too. I wanted
him to know about building community and helping one
another, because we too are animals, and my definition of
Click here to watch a
video of Ollie talking
about Chilis On Wheels.
90 | BarefootVegan
veganism includes compassion for everyone. There are
no vegan soup kitchens in NYC, so we decided to make
the food ourselves and distribute it. After that initial
outing, in the winter, seeing people shiver, seeing people
eat very fast because they were hungry, I could not
ignore it again. And I committed myself to doing it more
often, and more often, and right now we operate weekly,
but that still does not seem like enough.
Have there been any challenges that you’ve
had to overcome in setting the charity up?
We have run out of room in my kitchen and so we can
only make 100-200 chili a week. We are trying to look for
a rent-free kitchen in churches or community centres, so
that we can serve more people in need, but we have not
had any luck so far.
What has been the highlight since you’ve
launched?
The highlight is always the people. As we kept returning,
people started getting to know us. Some call us “The
Chili Ladies” or “The Chili Group” and some share little
bits of their story, and that is always the highlight, it’s
what keeps me going.
We met Chris, who is a young Rastafarian. He is a
vegetarian, and he finds it really hard to find options in
the soup kitchens. He has such a positive attitude, and
he always smiles when he sees us. The first time that we
met him, he said he had read about us in the paper. I felt
like a star!
We have also met Matthew who receives a big bag of
leftover bread from a bakery and who takes it back to the
park to distribute among his friends. He also always has
an inner shine and his presence enthrals you.
We have met Jesus, who begs us to keep coming back
because “people are hurting”. And we have met Esi Grant
who had just come out of the hospital and who recited a
poem for us. You can find it on our website’s blog.
We also love our volunteers, Veganteers as we call them,
some of whom have become an extended part of our
family. The teenagers from Edward Murrow High School