A Year-End Letter from Jen Hidinger-Kendrick
“ANYTHING LONG LASTING OR WORTHWHILE TAKES TIME AND COMPLETE SURRENDER.” — RYAN HIDINGER
Dear Giving Kitchen Community,
I am in awe of what is possible at Giving Kitchen.
It was spring of 2013. My husband Ryan was still alive, and we were gathered with Giving Kitchen’s co-founders in our living room. We’d just experienced the first Team Hidi, and we knew we were starting Giving Kitchen.
Now we had to figure out: what will this nonprofit be? Questions as simple as what IS Giving Kitchen, how do we define it, who will we serve? One by one, each founding member took a turn answering. When it was Ryan’s turn, he said, without hesitation or doubt:
We paused. A quiet confidence swelled. We were inspired as we saw all the possibilities ahead of us, all the people we could help — people that didn’t necessarily look like Ryan, or come from his background, or have his privilege or access. And it would involve everyone — every food service worker could get the support they need, and everyone in our community could step up to help. And that's where you come in.
It was our community’s generosity at Team Hidi in 2013 that started it all, and that has pushed Giving Kitchen forward to the point that we now have served over 11,400 food service workers in 28 states. And I’m asking for your generosity again: Will you make a donation to Giving Kitchen today?
To Ryan, his cancer was a gift because it illuminated the compassion and generosity of his community, both in the food service world and beyond. He fought courageously, but regardless of the outcome, he felt he had won. His enlightened response to a terminal diagnosis became a beacon of hope for many, and laid the foundation of Giving Kitchen’s guiding principles: empathy, generosity, compassion, precision, trust, and gratitude.
We’ve lived those principles, and we continue to be inspired by that simple, instinctive response Ryan had back in 2013: we want to be available to help every food service worker and engage everyone in the community to support those who serve us every day.
The resilience, humility, and courage to ask for help that inspires me to keep pushing Giving Kitchen forward in the story of getting it right: recognizing food service workers as vital and valued in our community, every single one. By making a donation to Giving Kitchen, you are letting food service workers know that you appreciate them, and that you have their backs.
From January 1 – December 29, 2022 Giving Kitchen has:
Served 1,071 Clients
Awarded over $2,136,209 dollars in financial assistance
Positively impacted the industry with mental health resources with programs like QPR & Mind Matters.
Helped make sure that children of food service workers are supported by providing financial assistance to 736 unique households with children, provided stability network services to approximately 1,236 unique households with children, and prevented 549 children from facing eviction and/or homelessness.
As I reflect on the breadth and depth of the thousands of lives that have been positively impacted since our inception, and also how many lives have yet to be, I am eagerly leaning into the future and all that is possible at Giving Kitchen. I hope you’ll join me by making a donation today.
There’s a piece of Ryan in everything we do. With every ask for help, with every client served, every dollar given or resource referred. And that keeps me going. It’s each of these stories that keeps us going.
Thank you for being part of our story.
With humility and gratitude,
Jen Hidinger-Kendrick
Co-founder, Sr. Director of Community Engagement