Photo Supplied 'Feed the Freelancers' are providing supplies for those affected by Coronavirus.
Hollywood producer Michael M. Robin is one of many celebrities and influencers who is pitching in to help needy freelancers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The “All Rise” producer, who is also the man behind classic shows like “NYPD Blue,” has made one of the largest donations so far to New York-based campaign “Feed the Freelancers.” The organization delivers weekly grocery boxes containing essential items including toilet paper, canned goods and pasta to the community. Over half the recipient base are filmmakers.
Founder Isabella Olaguera said Robin’s donation of $1,000 was a welcome boost alongside the support she has already received from the industry.
“He has a long list of accomplishments, so when I saw that, I was taken aback,” she told Heavy. “My team was honored to receive a donation from someone who was so influential in the community.”
Instagramers Are Getting in on the Act Too
The organizers have been targeting celebrities and social media influencers with the pitch “Donate a Shoutout.” Engie of EngieStyle on Instagram is the second-biggest influencer to give a shoutout to the group. Others include Cheatdayeats and Mianne.chan.
Olaguera said many have contributed in the form of unboxing or recipe videos in a campaign that has already raised over $20,000 on GoFundMe.
“We’ve had responses from different comedians, actors, stylists, and tattoo artists,” she told Heavy. “We provide recipe cards specific to the items we get in our box. The cards are authored primarily by site leader Adam Richlin, but our entire team contributes recipes. We also publish content by artist-in-residence Sandy Dex, who does our TikTok-style recipe videos. Then we collect recipient-created recipes.”
“A big part of our box is promoting accessibility. Cooking can be intimidating in a long-term situation to people, including me – I’m not the best cook,” Olaguera said. “By having a standard box, it opens people’s worlds and also provides them with something to do and a sense of accomplishment, which I think is important.”
Olaguera called “Feed the Freelancers” her “passion project” that gave her “a reason to get up and start my day” after she lost her job in March.
“I definitely have low days, and that depresses me, but having the preoccupation of “Feed the Freelancers” helps me from getting too into my head and lost in the way I feel about the state of the world, and puts that energy towards something productive and positive,” Olaguera said.
She said she came up with the initiative when being an out-of-work Assistant Director left her with a car full of goods and no one to deliver it to.
“I was cleaning out my garage, putting all my production supplies into storage. It was so emotionally distressing that I was crying while doing it, not having a job where I could use the supplies,” Olaguera said. “That emotional state I was in where I would have been gearing up to be with a community, a film family, left me wondering, where is my family, and how can I help them?”
Home Depot, Ace Endico, Red Hook Terminals, Tortilleria Chinantla & Grupo Bimbo Are Just Some of the Organizations Providing Assistance
“Feed the Freelancers” has been partnering with New York-wide organizations to handle their overstocked produce, and is in the process of expanding from New York and Philadelphia to Los Angeles and New Jersey.
“When we receive donations from our partnership, we reach out in turn to other local communities. Some specific to immigrants, low-income housing. Others are regional – medical care workers in the Bronx, and Brooklyn. These are people I’ve never met in my life, who I really have no day-to-day interaction with, but at the same time, we want to help them, because we know everyone needs help, and everyone deserves help,” Olaguera told Heavy. “Every day I think the pandemic is forcing me and my teammates into the fire, and we just have to fight our way out of it.”
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