October 12, 2017 at 4:14 pm EDT | by Lou Chibbaro Jr.
Food & Friends makes donation to Puerto Rico meals program

Food & Friends has pledged to donate at least $30,000 to a Puerto Rico organization that provides meals to people with HIV and other illnesses. (Image by Nicolas Raymond; courtesy Flickr)
In a statement released on Oct. 4, Food & Friends said it arranged to donate 10 percent of the revenue expected to be generated this month by its annual Slice of Life pie sales fundraising drive. The statement says a minimum of $30,000 would be obtained from the fundraiser for emergency aid to the San Juan-based Bill’s Kitchen, the only organization in Puerto Rico providing specialized nutrition services to the HIV/AIDS community.
“As with most of Puerto Rico, Bill’s Kitchen remains without electricity,” said Food & Friends Executive Director Craig Shniderman. “There is no landline; phone service; extremely limited cell phone coverage; intermittent safe water; very limited fuel for vehicles/generators; martial law/evening curfew and oppressive heat,” Shniderman said in the statement.
He said Food & Friends has “rallied” the Food Is Medicine Coalition, which represents other groups throughout the U.S. that provide nutritional services and meals for people with HIV and other illnesses, to consider a gift to Bill’s Kitchen “within the means of their organization.”
Food & Friends spokesperson Carolyn Schmidt said Food & Friends last week sent Bill’s Kitchen $5,000 as the first installment of its planned $30,000 contribution. She said that in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane destruction Bill’s Kitchen provided whatever food it had in storage to anyone who needed it, including senior citizens.
Food and Friends have more decency and compassion than the rotten fake POTUS who reluctantly made a photo-op opportunity on Puerto Rico while treating the islands residents with the common contempt he shows Latinos in general!