Help Jenny Rebuild

Jamaica is similar to America, in that it’s inundated with cheap and unhealthy fast food.  Another similarity to the United States, is Jamaica’s rise in obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.  What’s unfortunate about this is that Jamaican cuisine is extremely diverse, using fresh fruits, vegetables, and spices from places in Africa, Europe, India, and China, along with their own native plants.

 Luckily for the Jamaicans, the Rastafarian movement believes in following a general principle that food should be natural, or pure, and from the earth.  This is the Ital (roughly vegan) way of eating and because of the Rastas beliefs, there are a small group of restaurants in Jamaica where people can find healthy meals made with the natural foods of the island. 

While working in Jamaica this past spring, I befriended an Ital restaurant owner, named Jenny.  Jenny has been serving healthy, on the go meals, to the people of Kingston for the past 3 years.  She once said to me “I don’t raise my prices cause I want people to be able to eat healthy.”  What a selfless thing to do.

Unfortunately, last week Jenny’s humble restaurant burned to the ground.  On the bright side, the building was a rental, which means she can move her restaurant to another location.  However, Jenny lost all her equipment in the fire; stove, refrigerator, blenders, plates, etc.  Not to mention the irreplaceable items such as personal recipes.  Needless to say, Jenny will need the replaceable things she lost, in order to create her amazing meals again.

Let’s help Jenny rebuild her business so she can get back to serving her healthy meals needed in Jamaica.

I’m looking to raise $1000 by October 15th and I think we can do it in no time.  All you have to do is log onto paypal.com and donate what ever you feel comfortable with.  My email address is sam@samdiephuis.com.  Or you can email me and I will give you my home address to send a check to.

Feel free to pass this along to people. The faster we can get her the money the faster she can get up and cooking again.