October 29, 2025 • 37 mins
Watch a city rally behind one simple promise: everyone deserves to eat. We sit down with the Foodbank’s president and CEO to unpack how a 54-hour push called The Mayflower Marathon becomes a lightning-fast pipeline of meals, 220,000 pounds collected in three days and out the door before Thanksgiving. The twist that makes it work: 200–300 riders from motorcycle clubs, including our host, Chef Tony's, Hells Angels chapter, coordinating six tractor trailers, partnering with Kroger and a moving and storage team, and delivering nearly half the total haul themselves.
We go beyond the parade to the numbers that matter. Demand is up 30–40% over the height of COVID. A dollar given often means two meals because of wholesale buying power and food rescue. Ninety-five cents of every dollar reaches neighbors directly, fueling healthier choices like produce and lean proteins that stabilize the working poor. Along the way, we confront stigma head on and share how trust grew at collection sites, from wary glances to first-name hellos and families who return each year to contribute.
This conversation blends frontline logistics with human stories: the farmer who still needs help, the teacher quietly packing fruit into backpacks, and the volunteers who turn a parking lot into a precision operation. If you’ve ever wondered whether cash or cans help more, how food banks move so fast, or what role you can play, you’ll find clear answers and practical ways to plug in, donate, volunteer, advocate, or simply spread the word so more hands show up when it counts.
Ready to be part of the solution? Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who cares about hunger.
Stop by any Kroger in the Hampton Roads, VA area to donate from now until Thanksgiving!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:24):
KT.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
What's up?
SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
All right, what's up?
I'll tell you what's up.
I will tell you what's up.
What's up?
We got Chris Tan here righthere.
That's what's up.
For all you who don't know, thisis the Burnt Hands Perspective.
And typically the Burnt HandsPerspective is a show about the
restaurant industry, all thethings going on in it, front of
the house, back of the house,bartenders, uh, food all the way
around.
Today is a little special, alittle special edition today.
(00:49):
Everybody knows, if you don't, Iam a Hells Angel.
I've been one for a very, verylong time, many years.
I love my life.
I love what it is, and I lovewhat it's done for me.
Without getting into detail, thefood bank of Virginia is here
because we have a great uhconnection with them.
Yep.
Every year we do an amazingthing for this for the city.
And what I really want to do,honestly, is just take time to
(01:09):
notice what it is they'veallowed us to help with.
Because one reason and onereason only, Chris, mainly,
nobody is willing to take thatchance with us because of the
reputation, so on and so forth,which I'm not here to speak on
one way or the other.
Um, it's just another thing,right?
Right.
So we started this thing withyou, and by the way, thank you
very much.
If you'd like to say a littlesomething, please do.
SPEAKER_02 (01:29):
Well, I mean, it's just a pleasure to be here.
Like we're excited to have you,and we we get a lot from what
you guys do every year.
So I'm excited to talk about it.
And your position with the foodbank is I'm the president and
the CEO of the food bank.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (01:40):
And that's amazing.
So the food bank, as everybodyknows, you got the logo with the
apple, which we will be for wewill be providing and showing
and flashing throughout thisonce we edit this beautiful
fucking mess.
It's gonna be it's gonna bebeautiful.
So uh, Kristen, you're even whenyou were in the news industry
back then, you've done time andtime, countless events, I'm
sure, with the food bank.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Yep, we've done a lot with the food bank.
Um, you know, working insoutheastern Virginia, North
Carolina, you guys give a lotback.
And we obviously work with youprimarily through the holiday,
but I think a lot of ourawareness side was how far you
guys can stretch a dollar, andalso that the need is
year-round, because we alwaystend to see it in the holidays.
And again, we want to talk aboutthat because I think a lot of
people don't know how much theHells Angels give back to the
(02:19):
food bank and what thatpercentage is that helps people
in this area.
So we can kind of touch on thosethings.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
This is a perfect timing for this in some sense,
like the Mayflower Marathon,which is our biggest.
Our biggest it's our only eventof the year, really, in some
sense, and it's by far ourbiggest.
It's a 54-hour straight umopportunity for the people in
the in our city to give back.
Yeah.
Uh, we need organizations tolead that charge, and the Hells
(02:49):
Angels and the motorcycle clubsare the number one organization
to do that for us.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
Oh, right on.
Um so can you give a little bitof what that means?
I mean, I think that what what Iwant to do is lay out kind of
why we're even bothered talkingabout this before we get into
the ups and downs of it all,before we get into the
nitty-gritty.
What why are we even botheringdiscussing this?
I'll tell you my point of view,but why are you here?
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
So, one is that during Thanksgiving in
particular and the holidays, itbrings a lot of attention to
hunger that we need to knowabout.
But people, hunger doesn't knowa season.
People are hungry all yearround.
Right.
So for us, we get into Mayflowerand things like that to make
sure that we can collect a lotof food for those in need, but
also to bring attention to theneed all year round.
Uh, it's also our biggest event.
(03:31):
So we have to get it done and wehave to get it done quickly.
We need organizations, we havehundreds of organizations that
give food to us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
And FM99, the rock station, is the huge provider to
that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
Yeah, so it's literally their event, and we
happen to be the recipients ofit.
Sure.
It's been going on for 27straight years.
It's amazing.
Uh there are people we have at-shirt.
Through COVID.
Through COVID, througheverything.
There's t-shirts that they sell.
There are people that come everyyear and go, I want my t-shirt.
I have 28 of them right now.
I need this one, I need the nextone.
So there's a loyal fan base toit.
And for us, like, this is whatwe do for a living.
(04:03):
We delivered last year 24.7million pounds of food to those
in need.
Wow.
We know that since COVID, theneed has actually gone up.
We thought COVID was going to bethe height of the need.
The no the needs are 30, 40%higher than the height of COVID.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
So out of that 24 million, do you know off top of
your head how much of that wasdelivered by the Hells Angels?
SPEAKER_02 (04:22):
So last year, over 100,000 pounds.
Right.
Uh by far our biggest provider.
So to give you guys the shoutout that you kind of deserve, we
collected about 220,000 poundslast year at the Mayflower
Marathon.
In three days, we collect220,000 pounds.
The Hells Angels delivered102,000 pounds of that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
Almost 50 percent.
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
45 percent.
That's a lot of people.
I don't think people understandwhat that means.
So that's and we gotta thank,like I gotta thank Kroger for
this, right?
Kroger grocery stores for thison uh as a national, they're a
huge store.
Right.
And they they provide us withwhat we need to get this done.
Right.
And that and that's us stagingtheir using their uh platform to
be able to get out the to the toreach to the people.
(05:04):
Right.
So thank you for them for doingthis as well.
In that time, a couple hundredthousand pounds of food.
I don't think people realizethat's in a year.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
I mean, that's not the whole time, the whole time
is six hundred thousand poundsof food.
SPEAKER_01 (05:16):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, so so I mean that's crazy.
So that's the whole that's acollective, yeah, right?
So in a year, 200,000 pounds offood.
Yeah, Hells Angels brought 102of it for the event.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:29):
That's crazy.
Yeah, in one event.
So we work for six weeks doingthat.
I say it's crazy, but I'm I'macting like it's crazy, like I
don't really know.
But as I'm sitting herereflecting on it, man, I'm like,
we fucking do a lot.
That's a lot.
That's how you know I meanthat's six weeks of our lives.
Uh Mallory's here, she's in theback, she's she works with the
food bank, and she's a hugeasset helper.
She's like my right-hand person.
Ain't that right?
(05:49):
Scream.
Yay! So she she she can tellyou.
And I, me and the guys, we justgo through it.
The support in our area is huge.
Hampton Roads, Virginia, we havea huge motorcycle community.
They all support Hells Angels.
It's a it's a red and whitearea.
We all know that.
Everybody's there, and all themotorcycle community is just
huge, right?
(06:10):
The problem is though, well, nota problem yet, but people don't
realize that that's six trailerloads of food last year.
Six tractor trailers.
So not only do we have to getwith Kroger, we have to get with
Hampton Roads Moving andStorage.
Uh Della there is amazing.
Yep.
They're trying to get truckers,they're trying to get tractor
drivers, they're trying to getthese trailers offloaded,
onloaded.
We're now to the point where wehave to do a six-week spread.
(06:33):
We have to bring the trailersand stuff to the food bank to
offload them to make sure wehave another one for the
upcoming drive.
So it's become a huge friggin'uh web of crap going on here
that we didn't we didn't know wewere signing up for by any
means.
13 years ago, I think we startedthis and we just did something
to give back something.
We're getting we get negativereview news all the time.
(06:55):
The negative part of our livesis there.
You could falsely make whichthey do nine times out of 10,
exaggerate, falsify, anythingthey can to make a fucking
story.
Right.
So sometimes there is somenegative, like anything.
There's negative coughs,negative school teachers,
negative damn chefs, negative uhwhatever you want to call it,
right?
There's firefighters who sleptthrough the alarm.
So let's, you know what I mean?
(07:16):
It happens.
So what they don't realize isthe amount of effort that has
gone from a little thing that wehad a pickup truck, then the
next year we had a pickup truckwith a bike trailer.
Following the year after that,we actually had a box truck that
we rented that was an openthing, like we were bringing
friggin' cattle to get, you knowwhat I mean?
And then it went from there tothere to there.
Now we have Hampton Roads movingstorage, we have FM99 on board,
(07:39):
Kroger's on board, the food bankis helps tremendously with
transporting.
It has become something that isno longer a freaking hobby, it's
almost something that we now arededicated to because if we don't
do it anymore, who the fuck is?
Yeah, so we're right.
SPEAKER_02 (07:54):
We're so lucky to have you in that sense.
We appreciate that.
And and the truth is, you'redelivering half of the food for
the event.
Yeah.
And also the motorcycle club,you know, is also the highlight
of the end.
So it's always at the end.
There's 200, 300 plusmotorcycles all coming in.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
We've turned it into a parade.
So now on the route from wherewe pick it to sell up at
Scandals, who's been a huge helpto us in all this, they host our
event on our end.
Scandals Bar on Holland Road.
I'm throwing a plug.
Plug light.
Plug life.
So what we we throw that outthere.
Um, they have been there fromthe beginning.
That's where we staged thatmorning and put everything
together and get everythingrolling.
(08:31):
And then we run the pack fromthat morning.
It's the last Sunday beforeThanksgiving every year at 1
o'clock p.m.
If you guys want to be out thereand check it out every year.
It doesn't matter if this thingright here plays two years from
now and you're seeing it, it'sstill gonna be the last third uh
last Sunday before Thanksgiving.
So you can come anytime.
Anyhow, that road is pretty muchshut down.
Um, we we get escorted in thereand we we deliver all this food.
(08:53):
Right.
Uh problem is what I find to bea problem with it is we we get
very little support outside ofour network, right?
Because we're the hell's angels.
Fine.
Think we're bad, think we'rethis, think we're that.
I'm not trying to sit here andsell us differently.
Right, I'm just trying to saythat this event in itself has
nothing to do with the fuck youthink it is, right?
It has nothing to do with theimage that you're putting out
(09:14):
there, though the the people.
Um, you know, the the newscoverage refuses to cover it.
We've asked many times, we'vewe've gone way beyond.
Actually, the food bank even noweven reached out and we get
nothing back from that.
Year after year after year, wedon't get the coverage that we
need.
And the coverage isn't reallyfor us.
We're not patting on the back.
The the coverage is to get morepeople involved, right?
(09:36):
Right.
So we want coverage because themore coverage we have, the more
volunteers we get.
We can't do this shit on ourown, right?
We're bikers, right?
We we sit around, we all havejobs, some of us we all have our
life.
And and we and we motorcyclesand and the enthusiasm for it is
what we're about.
Everything else lives within it,right?
Right.
So when you have a when thatgroup of bikers, which is pretty
(09:59):
big, is counted on by somethingso much bigger, that group
becomes small very quick.
So our us wanting to get out allthese years wasn't about look at
the hell's angels.
We're not trying to be BoyScouts or nothing, we're not
even interested in any of thatcrap.
Right.
What we what we like to dothough is is keep doing what
we're doing.
And we want to be known andrecognized because we need help
(10:19):
doing it, right?
So the more people that go cometo the food bank, the food bank
can volunteer and help people atthese locations at Kroger and
stuff like that.
So I'm I'm a chef, I'm arestaurant owner, I'm a huge uh
enthusiast of the culinary artsin our area.
I I do what I can to pull mypart in that, and that's why the
food drive has a lot of meaningto me.
(10:39):
Right.
Because it's food, it's right inthe damn tile.
Food.
Yeah.
So with the food being the food,that that's a part of this whole
thing that that kind of combinesmy life.
So I have a I have my guys areall enthusiastic.
We we all have a tie to it aswhat the club's doing for the
community.
And it gets tiring, it gets old.
Don't get me wrong, man.
(11:00):
We show up, I I speak for me.
There's days I showed up to thecollection points on a Sunday
morning hungover, sitting therejust, you know what I mean, just
wishing what the hell did I doto myself last night.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
It's all fun and going.
But after six weeks of doingthis, we're giving up our time,
our family, and everything else.
And this sounds almost like afucking pitch, but but it it's
not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:21):
You're just trying to show how much goes into it
because I don't think peoplerealize they think it's a
one-day event.
Nobody ever looks at planningevents and goes, Oh shit,
there's three months of, I mean,for you guys, an entire year of
planning because you're havingmeetings every month, there's
hours put in.
So people like to look at it andsay, Oh, that's easy, I could do
that.
I mean, we deal with it all thetime.
And I think you're just you'rejust solidifying the fact that
(11:41):
you guys put a lot of work in.
Well, like you do it every year.
SPEAKER_01 (11:44):
And there's more to come with it.
So branching out from just that,when when when the money used to
be the main focus, people usedto donate money because I think
they saw us, they didn't want tosay no, and they would just
throw some money in the donationpot.
We appreciate it.
And as time goes on, and andthen well, the money donations
are great because they they do alot more for you than the food,
is that right?
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
That's right.
So we can turn like$10 worth ofdonated food into if you give us
$10 worth of.
So if you go out to Kroger andyou buy$10 worth of soup, you're
paying retail price.
Yeah.
They got$10 worth of soup.
You got you give me$10, I can gobuy it from where Kroger's
buying it and probably turn itinto$60 worth of soup.
Yeah, so for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
So what we noticed too in the time is that at the
beginning, the money was biggerthan the food donations, right?
Because I think, like I said,after we analyzed, I think
people were just like, yeah,sure, here.
And they leave because we'reHell's Angels.
They didn't know, they didn'twant to, they didn't want to
interact with us twice.
Right.
They didn't want to say nobecause whatever, I don't know
what.
But in time, as we did this yearafter year, we noticed that
people are now comfortablewaiting to see us there.
(12:43):
So they see us there, they'recomfortable with it.
Hey, remember me from last year?
Fuck yeah, I remember you fromlast year.
Dude, how you been?
How's this?
Your kid got big, you know?
Right, yeah.
Every year we do something else.
We have people that bring usfood, people that bring us baked
goods, right?
Um, you know, got to smell, makesure they're proper.
Okay.
Trying to party out here, youknow what I mean?
No, I'm just kidding.
But no, that people really goout of their way to make us
(13:03):
comfortable.
Right.
Right.
And that goes to show that justfrom what we do, um, it is
really affecting a wholecommunity.
And in the food bank now, what Iwant to do with my chef and my
culinary is we're we're talkingabout as a club, we're bringing
in other things because justdoing the food drive alone now
is starting to get beyond ourreach.
Right.
There's it's a lot happening.
(13:24):
There's a lot of moving parts tomake this happen.
So, what we're talking about nowis how can we expand this to
even different parts, differententities, like for instance, a
uh Hells Angels food drive golftournament, um, a culinary
experience where you get localchefs in the area to put on a
banquet that would benefit ourour cause, in addition to
everything we're already doing.
Yeah, it has a lot of fingersand has a lot of legs to move
(13:45):
forward, and it it really hasnothing to do more with uh with
our individual passion forhelping.
SPEAKER_02 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean, I think at the food bank too, like
for from my perspective, theHells Angels and the rest of the
motorcycle clubs arerepresenting what we ask people
to do, which is do what you can.
SPEAKER_03 (14:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
You know, some people can't give us money, they
give us their time.
Right, some people give us, youknow, funding.
Some people go and get food ifthey can't.
You guys sit out for six weeksand collect food out of a
Kroger.
Uh, sometimes, probably, I wouldassume in the beginning at
least, maybe not the bestreception, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:17):
I mean, like it starts, it but believe it or
not, it fades as it goes.
You're talking about from thepeople or our help?
SPEAKER_02 (14:22):
No, from the people like coming to you and going
like you were saying, or maybegetting into the Kroger's at the
beginning there.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
And even last year, sometimes people will write some
hate mail to the Kroger sayingthere's uh racist groups out
front, there's uh terrorism outfront.
These why are you guys havingthese criminal outlaws out
front?
It happens all the time, right?
But we don't give a shit becausewe've already got that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:44):
We've been at the food bank two two and a half
years right now.
And when I first got here, I waslike, oh, the the motorcycle
gang.
This is what we're doing.
We're collecting food withmotorcycle clubs.
How do we do it?
So I would go into Kroger, notdressed as my like just normal
with my family, and I would godonate.
And I have never had a badexperience.
Oh, you've got to be.
I've actually had the bestexperiences.
Yeah.
But people thank me for giving.
Yeah, they don't know that I'mthe CEO of the food.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
Look, let me let me tell you this, and this goes for
any club out there, anybody outthere, any tough guy, any felon,
any prison, it doesn't matter.
No matter how tough or scary orwhatever it is your image is or
who you are or how tough youare, yeah, even the toughest
dude on the planet doesn't wantto wake up and have a bad day.
Right.
Okay?
Everyone just wants to go abouttheir day.
Yeah, and the ones who do don'tlast long, and they have nothing
(15:28):
to do with this conversation.
But for the most part, even thetoughest, the most barbaric
people want to wake up and havea good day.
Right.
Okay.
No Viking ever woke up and said,let's go pillage.
They went and pillaged for areason, but they probably didn't
want to.
They wanted to just go partyafter.
Nobody wants to wake up to a badday.
Right?
So that goes for the HellsAngels Motorcycle Club.
We're gonna be who we are, andwe're and we're and it's a it's
(15:49):
a group of great men.
Okay?
Yeah, and that's it, that's thebottom line.
SPEAKER_02 (15:52):
And the other thing it does that I talk about all
the time, and as a chef, youprobably know better than
anybody.
Like food connects us all,right?
Like correct.
It connects people withdifferent backgrounds.
I'm assuming that thesemotorcycle clubs don't hang out
together all year round.
But for one event, they can putaside differences if there are
any, they can get together andtalk about the need for food in
our community.
(16:12):
The other piece is that I'mfairly confident because I've
walked in every every lane oflife, that some of the people in
the motorcycle experienced foodinsecurity when they were kids.
Sure.
That they didn't have all thefood that they needed to make
life happen, right?
And so I enjoyed hanging outwith people that are passionate
about what they do.
I'm passionate about the foodbank.
(16:33):
I'm telling you the motorcycleclubs that collect for us, if
you're spending a Sunday and aweekend helping us collect funds
and food for people, you'repassionate about what you do,
that's all I really care about.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
After that, let's so the ignorance of the people who
who have our naysayers oranything in it, they're gonna be
there, right?
So moving forward from that,man, because it's it's it's so
important that people understandthat that's all we care about.
Right.
It's that simple.
And what you said before ispeople coming together.
The motorcycle clubs in thisarea are all together.
That's what makes this thingwork so good.
(17:04):
The ones who aren't are on theirown agenda and they're not even
part of it, and they're kind ofostracized from the whole thing
anyway, because they're just onthe outskirts and they never get
that type of they wouldn't beallowed in to have the
experience.
You you don't get the benefitonce when you don't add ever.
You see what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
So the all the clubs in thisarea are friends, we are
(17:25):
friendly, we all do talktogether, and the ones who
aren't, we don't even they don'teven regul register here, right?
Yeah.
So it's not even a thing here.
They're not even noticed,really.
We don't no one even paysattention to them until they
want to be known.
But we're not gonna let them beknown by joining something so
great when they don't add to thecommunity ever at any other
time.
Sure.
You know, yeah.
So it is a great time for us allto get together because we do
(17:47):
know each other, and it'sactually time that we use our
unity and see it happen, right?
That's what we do.
So we're you we're united allyear long.
But what you're saying is right.
When we actually get togetherand watch this unification
happen, yeah, that's when werealize shit, we actually do
have a great unity and a greatYeah, it's move it's it's it's
kind of moving in some sense.
SPEAKER_02 (18:06):
And you got like, you know, bikers for Christ next
to other people.
It's just amazing.
Like and it's just again, it'sone common cause, right?
One common cause and one way ofsix weeks a year.
Six weeks a year, one Sunday uhuh the year, right before
ironically, Thanksgiving, wherewe're gonna give thanks for the
goodness that we have in ourlife.
And it's really, I mean, it it'sit's it's a it's a feat to see.
(18:29):
We have really awesome dronefootage of it, of, of, of it
coming down.
And we'll be playing some ofthat in the background of this.
Yeah, it's amazing in thatsense.
But it really what you know, I'mgonna say this, and our world
could use more of it for sure.
Sure.
Like we know, we're we'reequally divided now more than
ever around all the differenttypes of issues.
The one thing we could agree onis that nobody, no matter
(18:50):
whether you're should go hungry.
unknown (18:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:52):
No, and particularly no kids should go hungry.
No kids should ever go hungry.
You know, we got somecommunities in our area,
especially like one in fourchildren in certain areas of our
community don't know where theirnext meal goes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
Because I've had friends who are teachers who
watch their kids in class, andobviously we see, you know, when
when lunch isn't provided, thatthat's a huge issue because most
children in this area, that'sthe only time they get to eat.
So they would be hoarding foodat the end of lunch or trying
to, you know, take fruit.
But one of my girlfriends whotaught for a long time had like,
I mean, it was a good percentageof her class dealing with that,
(19:23):
and that was in a very affluentarea on Virginia Beach that
people were like, Oh, thatdoesn't happen here.
They cleared out their food roombecause most of them do the
donation room every year wherethey bring in all the clothes
and the food at the beginning ofthe year and snacks.
In two weeks, all of that foodand clothing is gone because
those kids need it.
And she would pack everything upoff lunch trays, like the fruit
that wasn't eaten and thingslike that, take it to her
(19:46):
classroom and sneak it intotheir backpacks every day.
And I think people need torealize that that is happening
and it happens more than youthink.
SPEAKER_03 (19:53):
Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
And if you can't come together for the greater
good of supporting thiscommunity, then you're not, you
don't deserve it in your ownlife.
Like I think that it's just youhave to look past any kind of
indifferences.
And that was my biggest takeawaywhen we were in the media side
of it, because we said the mediadoesn't support.
We we did some of the I know Iwas at some of the free drives
through the media, so I know Iwas there back in the day.
(20:14):
Things have changed a littlebit, you know, especially
post-COVID, people not going tocertain places with the the
media stuff.
But you know, I'm gonna helpwith that this year.
But when I was there, it was thebest experience.
And we worked, I think the radiostation kind of parlays in
between as well to kind ofmediate and get people in.
Um, but just seeing people inthis area actually say, hey,
it's okay to show up and help.
(20:34):
And if you're gonna run yourmouth, then put some action
behind it.
SPEAKER_02 (20:37):
Right.
And we have 7,000 volunteers ayear at the food bank that help
us every year that gives usmillions of dollars worth of.
Send some our way this time.
We are sending 154 your way thistime.
I appreciate that.
For sure.
Like people hopefully be raisingtheir hands.
Right.
Exactly.
Because I mean, and we'reexcited about it because again,
you know, I hope what this does,if it does anything, is bring
(20:58):
attention to the idea thateverybody in your community can
make a difference and that we'reall we we all know people that
struggle.
Some of us may have struggled inthe past, yeah, but we all can
do what we can.
And again, that's what I thinkMayflower Marathon is really all
about.
There are people that come thereand just pack food for us for
hours.
They do too.
They do.
I've seen it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
And I remember when we used to bring two or three
track trucks.
Remember this, we used to bringthree or two or three trucks
there, and we would have to theywould all unload it.
We didn't have it figured outyet and how we were gonna do it.
Yeah, yeah.
So that we'd unload thetrailers.
unknown (21:30):
Oh, god.
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
Volunteers, it looked like we're it looked like
we were smuggling.
I mean, it was like we're takingthem out of one truck, put them
in the other, the other onewould take off, get the hell out
of there.
People were probably like, whatthe hell's really going on over
here, right?
Right.
Yeah, right.
No, but really, I mean, it was alot.
So now it became into all thevolunteers that were there
working it were were uh it wasamazing.
(21:52):
Yeah, and they had their shitfigured out, which was great.
Um, you know, it comes down to,you know, when it comes down to
the clubs helping and doingthat, it I don't believe anymore
that that it's people say, well,the Hells Angels do great for
the community.
That's that's wonderful, thankyou, but that's not really what
we're about.
We're we're we're men whoactually um have a great vehicle
(22:13):
to be able to do what it is welove doing.
And and that's that in this sixweeks a year, yeah, we put
everything the fuck aside and wedo what we do.
And that's the end of it.
And and it's not we don't we'renot looking for reward, we're
not looking for anything.
We're actually just looking forrecognition to be able to expand
our level of help.
You know what I mean?
Get the get the word out thereto get it done.
End of story.
That's it.
There's no sapness to it,there's no sorriness to it.
(22:34):
It's it either we we either gethelp or we have to slow it down.
Yeah you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02 (22:37):
And so the best part about it, too, and I I want to
make sure we give a shout-out toour staff who make this happen,
is that all that food'scollected through Sunday.
Sure.
And all of that food is out ourdoor before Thanksgiving.
It's crazy.
So three days, 200,000 poundsgoes out.
Not so like I always like totell people, you know, 100,000
(22:59):
pounds, what does that reallymean?
No, the Hells and Angels and theclubs, that's 87,000 meals that
people ate.
Right.
Because of you.
SPEAKER_01 (23:08):
What did you do for your community today?
Exactly.
What the hell did you do, Mr.
Fucking Naysayer?
You didn't do it, did you?
87,000.
So incredible, right?
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
You got your training at Chick-fil-A.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like pumping them through there.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
So it's it's it's a matter of um, you know, you can
you can sit here and claim anarea, you can claim you're uh
you're involved with yourcommunity.
You get like you said a minuteago, you can put your money
where your mouth is, right?
Yeah.
So you you really gotta eitheryou can say that all you want
to, or you can let the communityspeak for you.
And when it comes to the foodbank and the Hells Angels, the
community knows what's going onwith that relationship.
(23:39):
Same thing with Kroger.
People are very well aware nowwhen they go to Kroger during
this time frame, we're gonna bethere and they're excited to be
there with you.
And it's like I said, it's it'sa wonderful relationship, and
we're very proud of it.
Um I always had where are wegoing in the future with it?
We're working on that, right?
SPEAKER_02 (23:55):
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
I've always had this dream as a chef and someone in
the community that I would haveuh almost like a Thanksgiving
spread one day where I can havepeople come and eat and we would
serve that.
But being in the restaurantindustry like I am, I'm so busy
all the time that cooking tothat level would be a whole new
thing.
Yeah, but it would alsointerfere with the amount of
(24:16):
work we need to do to get thefood bank in.
So I don't know what would bemore beneficial to the people.
A place where they can go onThanksgiving and eat a meal or
having a meal in theircupboards, because what you said
before was interesting.
Thirty three days people come inthere and pound all this food
out the door.
SPEAKER_03 (24:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:35):
Just on ours alone, six tractor trailer fuels last
year.
Exactly right.
They get rid of it in threedays.
None of that, well, not none,sorry.
A very small percentage of thatis literally related to
Thanksgiving.
Right.
This isn't Thanksgiving food.
We're not talking about sixtrails of stuffing and cranberry
sauce.
They're not coming in there toget their Thanksgiving meal.
This is regular a hundredthousand pounds of food.
(24:57):
Spaghetti O's all the way downto tuna to baby wipes.
Everything you could want.
Diapers have been a huge thing.
Yep.
Uh formula.
These are all things that ourpeople are bringing in to us,
right?
And and for three days for allthat to go literally shows the
need for it's not just aboutThanksgiving, man.
This is just this is just ahoney hole.
It's really never about this.
SPEAKER_00 (25:18):
No, it's not it's just it's a way to market it
because it's more marketablebecause the holidays are not
going to be able to do that.
That brings more attention.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
And you know, the holidays bring attention to
nonprofits across the country.
People want more attention.
People want to help.
It's the giving season.
They're called that for areason.
Yeah.
Well, you can't.
And I appreciate the fact thatyou you think about you know
wanting to cook for there's noway you can ever feed 87,000
people like you do.
There's not.
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
So do I that's where I'm at now?
Yeah.
Would would I host an event thatwould allow a hundred or two
hundred people in the communityto come to?
That would be a very nicegesture.
SPEAKER_02 (25:45):
For sure.
SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
But it would also take away from 87,000 people who
would actually be thereliterally eating for a couple of
days in their cupboards.
Absolutely.
You know what I mean?
Digging out their cupboards.
So if I'm not cooking all theseturkeys and doing what I'd
really love to do, right?
We still got some spaghettios upthere.
Exactly right.
Um, we got something.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
Well, I know you said hunger, I mean, it knows no
season, and since this is kindof more of an educational
episode for people of how togive back.
SPEAKER_03 (26:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:09):
Let's talk about the needs.
So, where is the most need, thethings you guys need, and how
can people, you know, really,really make a difference in the
community.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
So, what two things that the food bank is really
focused on in the last two yearsis one, trying to provide
healthier food, like not leadinginto the process or problem of
getting people healthier so thatthey can work, so that they can
be educated, so they can dothose things.
And unfortunately, healthy foodis also oftentimes the most
expensive.
So produce, lean protein.
(26:37):
So we're focusing on that.
You know, the number one thingyou can give us is your your
dollars.
And I hate to say it that way,but we we treasure that.
Like one of the biggest thingsthat we're I'm proud of as the
food bank is 95 cents of everydollar you give us goes directly
to people.
SPEAKER_03 (26:52):
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (26:53):
So we have a five percent administrative rate.
We have to have refrigerators,we have to have payroll, we have
to house this is gonna have tosay that 95 cents of every
dollar is going into the handsof somebody in need is
important.
Yeah.
Number two, we're really workingwith the working poor.
We're not providing the meal forevery single every meal of every
(27:14):
person's life.
Like that is not what we'redoing.
We have soup kitchens, we helpout with all of those things.
But we're really working withpeople that work every day and
their food budget with inflationand the cost of food, they
cannot afford what we used toafford.
It's just crazy.
Right?
And so we're not talking aboutproviding every meal for every
person every day.
We're talking about helping.
I'll give you a great story thatuh when I first started at the
(27:36):
food bank, um, I I really didn'tknow what I was doing.
I'd never been a food banker.
I didn't even know food bankingwas a word.
And I I would go in line withsome of our uh neighbors and
just shop with them and ask themhow they're doing, et cetera.
And I went into our Franklinfacility, uh, which is in uh
Franklin, Virginia, it was justopened, and I was shopping with
(27:58):
a mother and her teenage son,and I said, You know, you mind
if I ask what you do for aliving?
And she's like, I I I'm afarmer.
I said, Oh, really?
What farm do you work on?
She said, No, I own a farm.
I said, You own a farm andyou're coming to us for food.
You're it just was aneye-opening experience.
Like the margin in farms, smallfarms is very small.
Like it could be anybody at anytime that needs that little bit
(28:20):
of help.
SPEAKER_03 (28:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
Uh and so again, we're super excited about the
idea that people are we'regrowing.
Like we're we're we're we'vegone up 35% in our food
distribution in the last twoyears, where other food banks
are going down 18%.
Well, and that's because we havegotten the community involved.
You guys are out there.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
I've I've lived in different areas throughout, and
I travel a lot.
Yeah, and and I pay attention tolittle things, especially things
I'm involved with in one way oranother.
Um, and and I I don't see asmuch you guys are in the public.
You you you get out there.
So I don't know if it's becauseyou have a great team who
understands outreach, you knowwhat I'm saying?
Or you know, Mallory, are youtalking about for sure?
Yeah, getting out to the social,getting out on the streets,
(29:04):
getting out and being part ofthings, awareness, right?
Uh being being sometimes youhave to learn when and where to
pick your pick your place.
Yeah.
So sometimes, you know, peoplewill place themselves in things
that aren't as relevant orthey're not as helpful as where
you would here.
And it seems like you guys havea match.
Mallory has a has a has a natchfor that of a niche for doing
(29:24):
this.
You know what I'm saying?
It's you know what I mean, Chrisand the case.
SPEAKER_00 (29:27):
Well, you guys, I mean it's you know, and it's an
evolution because you know,you've learned more in
marketing, we've gotten, youknow, the community here is
stronger, there's more awarenessaround it.
So a lot of those things helpwhen you guys do that.
But uh that was the biggestthing that always stood out to
me, though, was the the perdollar.
Yeah because and I I was alwaysamazed because people are like,
oh, go buy a can of soup anddrop it off.
Give you guys a dollar and youcan buy multiple cans of soup.
(29:49):
So it it doesn't take a lot ofeffort to help.
Yep.
And when you say one dollarmakes a difference, that one
dollar could be lunch forsomebody for days.
And you're not thinking thatway.
SPEAKER_02 (29:59):
50 cents a meal, basically.
So I mean, if you give us adollar, we can provide two meals
for that because we can leveragedonated food like you that you
do every year.
We can leverage our buyingpower.
Yeah.
We rescue food from almost everyuh um uh grocery store in our
area.
So we're we're picking up threeor four times a week from almost
every grocery store.
We rescued nine million poundsof food last year alone, just
(30:21):
from food that was meant to bethrown out.
There are people that say Oh, wethrow all the food away.
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
We like the people will say that.
The naysayers will say that, oh,well, you know, they're throwing
all this food away.
So you guys actually are gettingsome of that.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
Yeah.
So most most uh grocery storesare we're picking up two or
three times a week from wherefrom their from their produce
section, from their lean proteinsection, but also from their dry
goods section.
Yeah.
Um a lot of bakery,unfortunately.
That's what we get the most of.
Yeah.
But we love bread.
I love it.
So we're we're good.
(30:53):
So I mean, we're we're we'rereally fortunate in that sense
to have this kind of umcommunity and and and but and
unfortunately it doesn't meetthe need.
I always say so.
We deliver the weight of anelephant of food every hour that
we're open.
unknown (31:06):
That's great.
SPEAKER_02 (31:07):
So think about an elephant going out.
But to meet the need, it had tobe three elephants and a baby
elephant.
So per every hour.
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
Well, you think about that, and and and that's a
lot of food too, because youthink how much is a box of
spaghetti weigh?
SPEAKER_02 (31:18):
Yeah, it's not much.
SPEAKER_01 (31:18):
Yeah, nothing.
Yep.
Yeah, you guys are doing a lot.
Box spaghetti is a pound.
How many weight, how much poundsis in an elephant?
That's a lot of spaghetti.
Yeah, for sure.
It's a lot of spaghetti.
That's how you're gonna startmeasuring shit in the kitchen.
Not only that, though, thatactually sounds pretty good.
Okay, got it.
Elephant bowl is sitting with aspaghetti.
So it's it's interesting whenyou start breaking it down and
looking at what's what all thatstuff.
(31:39):
I just wanted to have you comeon our show because our show is
about, like I said at thebeginning of this, everybody
knows who watches this show.
The restaurant industry,gruesome, grueling, fun,
exciting, uh uh disappointing.
It's got it's just a rollercoaster of emotions.
Um what I do as a chef and whatI do in my restaurants is is we
(32:00):
can talk about that all day longand still have topic after topic
after topic.
But it is food, it is a fooddrive.
I really wanted to put it outthere that in all different
levels and ways, food, youeither come into a high-end
restaurant and paying for it,yeah, or you're doing what you
can to get it no matter what.
Food is essential, more thananything.
Oxygen, water, food.
(32:21):
You gotta have it.
Heat, roof, these are things youhave to have.
Exactly right.
So at the best, whitetablecloth, as you see in the
background, my restaurantsprovide that for the people who
do that.
But I also don't only want tostop there.
I, as a Hells Angel and a just aman, yeah, right, I want to be
able to help at every level.
I want food, I want people toeat.
(32:42):
I want people to eat.
And if if there was a way Icould clone myself to cook at
all levels, I would.
You know what I'm saying?
But I uh unfortunately for thelower levels that uh that I
can't cook at because I'm I'mbusy where I am, right?
It's hard for me to do that.
So the best way I can give back,and and and my brothers in the
club feel the same exact way, isthat we we give back to the to
that.
That's how we do it.
Yeah, everyone needs to eat,it's all food related, it's a
(33:04):
burnt hands perspective thing.
It's it's uh it's who I am.
Um, I'm not here to solicit theHell's Angels in any fucking
way, uh, but I happen to be one.
And that's in the and and I haveall the honor in that in the
world.
And and the stuff my brothers,it's not really about me, it's
about what my brothers gothrough to do to do this because
they are not all in the foodindustry, they all don't have
(33:25):
the access to food or the peoplein the food industry like I do.
Yeah, until last year I didn'tknow you were, yeah.
Exactly.
So a lot of people don't know.
But then again, a lot of peoplewatching this show don't know
I'm a Hells Angel.
Right.
So I don't hide behind anything.
So the people who don't know howI'm a chef, they'll know.
The people who don't know I'm aHell's Angel will know.
There's no, it's just a matterof time.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:44):
So bottom line.
Bottom line.
Bottom line.
Gotta help.
SPEAKER_01 (33:48):
Gotta help.
So I'm doing this as a man, andI happen to be a Hells Angel.
So I'm not trying to push that,I'm just letting people know
that it takes all kinds ofpeople to do the right thing,
right?
That's exactly right.
Any knucklehead can do the wrongthing.
Every person who does somethingright can also do something
wrong, right?
So we're just normal people,right?
Yeah.
And you guys as a food bank havehelped us be able to provide in
(34:09):
a way that we probably wouldn'tbe able to do in any other way.
No one really wants to acceptthat's it's sad to say, but
there's a lot of people don'twant to accept the relationship
with the hell's angels.
And you guys have.
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:20):
And and and you you helped us prove that wrong.
Of course, there's some peopleout there that probably don't
want a relationship with thehell's angel, and I'm cool with
that too.
That's fine.
They're not they're not yourpeople.
It's okay.
It is what it is.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna kind ofend this off unless Kristen, you
have anything more?
SPEAKER_00 (34:38):
No, I just think that, yeah, I mean, call to
action, where people can helpyear-round, how people can give
back in the community.
SPEAKER_02 (34:44):
Yeah, I think you know, well, one, come out to the
Kroger and and see for yourselfwhat would these guys do for six
weeks prior to Saturday andSunday every month, starting
last week of October, all theway through to the last week and
of Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01 (34:55):
Year later.
SPEAKER_02 (34:56):
If you want to give online, foodbancoline.org.
If you want to come volunteerwith us, we have volunteer
opportunities every single day.
We have volunteer opportunitieswhere you can see the face of
hunger and give food directly.
We have volunteer opportunitiesif you want to just box food for
us.
We have volunteer opportunitiesto rescue that food that we
talked about earlier.
There's a lot of places and waysthat you can do something to
(35:16):
make a difference.
And again, our message is yeah,I want, for sure, I want the
$10,000,$20,000,$30,000donations.
I mean, that makes my life aheck of a lot easier for sure.
But I also want the$1 donationwhere that one dollar means more
to you than anything else.
Yeah.
I want the person that can't dothat for us, for sure.
Those are the ways you can getfoodbanklin.org.
(35:37):
And then hopefully, if you needhelp, you will come.
And you can go to that samewebsite and you can click on a
map that says, here's where Ilive or here's where I work, and
then it'll populate 10 to 20different places in your area
where you can get help.
And so we want to make sure thatpeople don't feel like there's a
stigma to getting help.
(35:57):
We all struggle at times.
Yeah.
And make sure that you know thatwe're here for you, and the
hell's angels are here for youon the Thanksgiving time and uh
to make a difference for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (36:07):
Appreciate it.
Absolutely.
And I'm gonna say this, I'mgonna close out with this.
There's always gonna benaysayers, there's always gonna
be negative.
Even the food bank might get alittle, well, I can't still
believe you're helping theHell's Angels.
If you're going to do that,please do.
We don't give a shit.
I don't care what you thinkabout us.
I don't, no one cares.
You don't like it, see us, seeit, and we'll talk about it,
right?
Right.
So, other than that, if you'regonna go say anything negative,
(36:28):
if you're gonna post anythingnegative, save it off the social
media, write it down on a pieceof paper, wrap it around a can
of something, bring it to thefood bank, and leave your little
message on a can so you can atleast say you've done something
other than bitched about it,right?
Right?
I agree.
And then we'll actually promoteyou saying how good of a person
(36:48):
you are for helping the homelessor helping the hungry, right?
Not the homeless so much, butthe hungry.
So do that.
So if you're gonna bitch,complain, write bad reviews, or
even question anything, writeyour little memo on a can, bring
it to the food bank, and do itthat way so you too can be part
of the solution instead of partof the problem.
Okay?
That's what I got for you.
That's it.
(37:09):
Take care, brush your hair.
Ciao for now.
SPEAKER_00 (37:13):
Ciao for now.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
Yeah, my pleasure.
Thank you.
KT.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
What's up?
SPEAKER_01 (00:25):
All right, what's up?
I'll tell you what's up.
I will tell you what's up.
What's up?
We got Chris Tan here righthere.
That's what's up.
For all you who don't know, thisis the Burnt Hands Perspective.
And typically the Burnt HandsPerspective is a show about the
restaurant industry, all thethings going on in it, front of
the house, back of the house,bartenders, uh, food all the way
around.
Today is a little special, alittle special edition today.
(00:49):
Everybody knows, if you don't, Iam a Hells Angel.
I've been one for a very, verylong time, many years.
I love my life.
I love what it is, and I lovewhat it's done for me.
Without getting into detail, thefood bank of Virginia is here
because we have a great uhconnection with them.
Yep.
Every year we do an amazingthing for this for the city.
And what I really want to do,honestly, is just take time to
(01:09):
notice what it is they'veallowed us to help with.
Because one reason and onereason only, Chris, mainly,
nobody is willing to take thatchance with us because of the
reputation, so on and so forth,which I'm not here to speak on
one way or the other.
Um, it's just another thing,right?
Right.
So we started this thing withyou, and by the way, thank you
very much.
If you'd like to say a littlesomething, please do.
SPEAKER_02 (01:29):
Well, I mean, it's just a pleasure to be here.
Like we're excited to have you,and we we get a lot from what
you guys do every year.
So I'm excited to talk about it.
And your position with the foodbank is I'm the president and
the CEO of the food bank.
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (01:40):
And that's amazing.
So the food bank, as everybodyknows, you got the logo with the
apple, which we will be for wewill be providing and showing
and flashing throughout thisonce we edit this beautiful
fucking mess.
It's gonna be it's gonna bebeautiful.
So uh, Kristen, you're even whenyou were in the news industry
back then, you've done time andtime, countless events, I'm
sure, with the food bank.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
Yep, we've done a lot with the food bank.
Um, you know, working insoutheastern Virginia, North
Carolina, you guys give a lotback.
And we obviously work with youprimarily through the holiday,
but I think a lot of ourawareness side was how far you
guys can stretch a dollar, andalso that the need is
year-round, because we alwaystend to see it in the holidays.
And again, we want to talk aboutthat because I think a lot of
people don't know how much theHells Angels give back to the
(02:19):
food bank and what thatpercentage is that helps people
in this area.
So we can kind of touch on thosethings.
SPEAKER_02 (02:25):
This is a perfect timing for this in some sense,
like the Mayflower Marathon,which is our biggest.
Our biggest it's our only eventof the year, really, in some
sense, and it's by far ourbiggest.
It's a 54-hour straight umopportunity for the people in
the in our city to give back.
Yeah.
Uh, we need organizations tolead that charge, and the Hells
(02:49):
Angels and the motorcycle clubsare the number one organization
to do that for us.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
Oh, right on.
Um so can you give a little bitof what that means?
I mean, I think that what what Iwant to do is lay out kind of
why we're even bothered talkingabout this before we get into
the ups and downs of it all,before we get into the
nitty-gritty.
What why are we even botheringdiscussing this?
I'll tell you my point of view,but why are you here?
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
So, one is that during Thanksgiving in
particular and the holidays, itbrings a lot of attention to
hunger that we need to knowabout.
But people, hunger doesn't knowa season.
People are hungry all yearround.
Right.
So for us, we get into Mayflowerand things like that to make
sure that we can collect a lotof food for those in need, but
also to bring attention to theneed all year round.
Uh, it's also our biggest event.
(03:31):
So we have to get it done and wehave to get it done quickly.
We need organizations, we havehundreds of organizations that
give food to us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:37):
And FM99, the rock station, is the huge provider to
that.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
Yeah, so it's literally their event, and we
happen to be the recipients ofit.
Sure.
It's been going on for 27straight years.
It's amazing.
Uh there are people we have at-shirt.
Through COVID.
Through COVID, througheverything.
There's t-shirts that they sell.
There are people that come everyyear and go, I want my t-shirt.
I have 28 of them right now.
I need this one, I need the nextone.
So there's a loyal fan base toit.
And for us, like, this is whatwe do for a living.
(04:03):
We delivered last year 24.7million pounds of food to those
in need.
Wow.
We know that since COVID, theneed has actually gone up.
We thought COVID was going to bethe height of the need.
The no the needs are 30, 40%higher than the height of COVID.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
So out of that 24 million, do you know off top of
your head how much of that wasdelivered by the Hells Angels?
SPEAKER_02 (04:22):
So last year, over 100,000 pounds.
Right.
Uh by far our biggest provider.
So to give you guys the shoutout that you kind of deserve, we
collected about 220,000 poundslast year at the Mayflower
Marathon.
In three days, we collect220,000 pounds.
The Hells Angels delivered102,000 pounds of that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
Almost 50 percent.
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
45 percent.
That's a lot of people.
I don't think people understandwhat that means.
So that's and we gotta thank,like I gotta thank Kroger for
this, right?
Kroger grocery stores for thison uh as a national, they're a
huge store.
Right.
And they they provide us withwhat we need to get this done.
Right.
And that and that's us stagingtheir using their uh platform to
be able to get out the to the toreach to the people.
(05:04):
Right.
So thank you for them for doingthis as well.
In that time, a couple hundredthousand pounds of food.
I don't think people realizethat's in a year.
SPEAKER_02 (05:12):
I mean, that's not the whole time, the whole time
is six hundred thousand poundsof food.
SPEAKER_01 (05:16):
Yeah, right.
Yeah, so so I mean that's crazy.
So that's the whole that's acollective, yeah, right?
So in a year, 200,000 pounds offood.
Yeah, Hells Angels brought 102of it for the event.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:29):
That's crazy.
Yeah, in one event.
So we work for six weeks doingthat.
I say it's crazy, but I'm I'macting like it's crazy, like I
don't really know.
But as I'm sitting herereflecting on it, man, I'm like,
we fucking do a lot.
That's a lot.
That's how you know I meanthat's six weeks of our lives.
Uh Mallory's here, she's in theback, she's she works with the
food bank, and she's a hugeasset helper.
She's like my right-hand person.
Ain't that right?
(05:49):
Scream.
Yay! So she she she can tellyou.
And I, me and the guys, we justgo through it.
The support in our area is huge.
Hampton Roads, Virginia, we havea huge motorcycle community.
They all support Hells Angels.
It's a it's a red and whitearea.
We all know that.
Everybody's there, and all themotorcycle community is just
huge, right?
(06:10):
The problem is though, well, nota problem yet, but people don't
realize that that's six trailerloads of food last year.
Six tractor trailers.
So not only do we have to getwith Kroger, we have to get with
Hampton Roads Moving andStorage.
Uh Della there is amazing.
Yep.
They're trying to get truckers,they're trying to get tractor
drivers, they're trying to getthese trailers offloaded,
onloaded.
We're now to the point where wehave to do a six-week spread.
(06:33):
We have to bring the trailersand stuff to the food bank to
offload them to make sure wehave another one for the
upcoming drive.
So it's become a huge friggin'uh web of crap going on here
that we didn't we didn't know wewere signing up for by any
means.
13 years ago, I think we startedthis and we just did something
to give back something.
We're getting we get negativereview news all the time.
(06:55):
The negative part of our livesis there.
You could falsely make whichthey do nine times out of 10,
exaggerate, falsify, anythingthey can to make a fucking
story.
Right.
So sometimes there is somenegative, like anything.
There's negative coughs,negative school teachers,
negative damn chefs, negative uhwhatever you want to call it,
right?
There's firefighters who sleptthrough the alarm.
So let's, you know what I mean?
(07:16):
It happens.
So what they don't realize isthe amount of effort that has
gone from a little thing that wehad a pickup truck, then the
next year we had a pickup truckwith a bike trailer.
Following the year after that,we actually had a box truck that
we rented that was an openthing, like we were bringing
friggin' cattle to get, you knowwhat I mean?
And then it went from there tothere to there.
Now we have Hampton Roads movingstorage, we have FM99 on board,
(07:39):
Kroger's on board, the food bankis helps tremendously with
transporting.
It has become something that isno longer a freaking hobby, it's
almost something that we now arededicated to because if we don't
do it anymore, who the fuck is?
Yeah, so we're right.
SPEAKER_02 (07:54):
We're so lucky to have you in that sense.
We appreciate that.
And and the truth is, you'redelivering half of the food for
the event.
Yeah.
And also the motorcycle club,you know, is also the highlight
of the end.
So it's always at the end.
There's 200, 300 plusmotorcycles all coming in.
SPEAKER_01 (08:10):
We've turned it into a parade.
So now on the route from wherewe pick it to sell up at
Scandals, who's been a huge helpto us in all this, they host our
event on our end.
Scandals Bar on Holland Road.
I'm throwing a plug.
Plug light.
Plug life.
So what we we throw that outthere.
Um, they have been there fromthe beginning.
That's where we staged thatmorning and put everything
together and get everythingrolling.
(08:31):
And then we run the pack fromthat morning.
It's the last Sunday beforeThanksgiving every year at 1
o'clock p.m.
If you guys want to be out thereand check it out every year.
It doesn't matter if this thingright here plays two years from
now and you're seeing it, it'sstill gonna be the last third uh
last Sunday before Thanksgiving.
So you can come anytime.
Anyhow, that road is pretty muchshut down.
Um, we we get escorted in thereand we we deliver all this food.
(08:53):
Right.
Uh problem is what I find to bea problem with it is we we get
very little support outside ofour network, right?
Because we're the hell's angels.
Fine.
Think we're bad, think we'rethis, think we're that.
I'm not trying to sit here andsell us differently.
Right, I'm just trying to saythat this event in itself has
nothing to do with the fuck youthink it is, right?
It has nothing to do with theimage that you're putting out
(09:14):
there, though the the people.
Um, you know, the the newscoverage refuses to cover it.
We've asked many times, we'vewe've gone way beyond.
Actually, the food bank even noweven reached out and we get
nothing back from that.
Year after year after year, wedon't get the coverage that we
need.
And the coverage isn't reallyfor us.
We're not patting on the back.
The the coverage is to get morepeople involved, right?
(09:36):
Right.
So we want coverage because themore coverage we have, the more
volunteers we get.
We can't do this shit on ourown, right?
We're bikers, right?
We we sit around, we all havejobs, some of us we all have our
life.
And and we and we motorcyclesand and the enthusiasm for it is
what we're about.
Everything else lives within it,right?
Right.
So when you have a when thatgroup of bikers, which is pretty
(09:59):
big, is counted on by somethingso much bigger, that group
becomes small very quick.
So our us wanting to get out allthese years wasn't about look at
the hell's angels.
We're not trying to be BoyScouts or nothing, we're not
even interested in any of thatcrap.
Right.
What we what we like to dothough is is keep doing what
we're doing.
And we want to be known andrecognized because we need help
(10:19):
doing it, right?
So the more people that go cometo the food bank, the food bank
can volunteer and help people atthese locations at Kroger and
stuff like that.
So I'm I'm a chef, I'm arestaurant owner, I'm a huge uh
enthusiast of the culinary artsin our area.
I I do what I can to pull mypart in that, and that's why the
food drive has a lot of meaningto me.
(10:39):
Right.
Because it's food, it's right inthe damn tile.
Food.
Yeah.
So with the food being the food,that that's a part of this whole
thing that that kind of combinesmy life.
So I have a I have my guys areall enthusiastic.
We we all have a tie to it aswhat the club's doing for the
community.
And it gets tiring, it gets old.
Don't get me wrong, man.
(11:00):
We show up, I I speak for me.
There's days I showed up to thecollection points on a Sunday
morning hungover, sitting therejust, you know what I mean, just
wishing what the hell did I doto myself last night.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
It's all fun and going.
But after six weeks of doingthis, we're giving up our time,
our family, and everything else.
And this sounds almost like afucking pitch, but but it it's
not.
SPEAKER_00 (11:21):
You're just trying to show how much goes into it
because I don't think peoplerealize they think it's a
one-day event.
Nobody ever looks at planningevents and goes, Oh shit,
there's three months of, I mean,for you guys, an entire year of
planning because you're havingmeetings every month, there's
hours put in.
So people like to look at it andsay, Oh, that's easy, I could do
that.
I mean, we deal with it all thetime.
And I think you're just you'rejust solidifying the fact that
(11:41):
you guys put a lot of work in.
Well, like you do it every year.
SPEAKER_01 (11:44):
And there's more to come with it.
So branching out from just that,when when when the money used to
be the main focus, people usedto donate money because I think
they saw us, they didn't want tosay no, and they would just
throw some money in the donationpot.
We appreciate it.
And as time goes on, and andthen well, the money donations
are great because they they do alot more for you than the food,
is that right?
SPEAKER_02 (12:03):
That's right.
So we can turn like$10 worth ofdonated food into if you give us
$10 worth of.
So if you go out to Kroger andyou buy$10 worth of soup, you're
paying retail price.
Yeah.
They got$10 worth of soup.
You got you give me$10, I can gobuy it from where Kroger's
buying it and probably turn itinto$60 worth of soup.
Yeah, so for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
So what we noticed too in the time is that at the
beginning, the money was biggerthan the food donations, right?
Because I think, like I said,after we analyzed, I think
people were just like, yeah,sure, here.
And they leave because we'reHell's Angels.
They didn't know, they didn'twant to, they didn't want to
interact with us twice.
Right.
They didn't want to say nobecause whatever, I don't know
what.
But in time, as we did this yearafter year, we noticed that
people are now comfortablewaiting to see us there.
(12:43):
So they see us there, they'recomfortable with it.
Hey, remember me from last year?
Fuck yeah, I remember you fromlast year.
Dude, how you been?
How's this?
Your kid got big, you know?
Right, yeah.
Every year we do something else.
We have people that bring usfood, people that bring us baked
goods, right?
Um, you know, got to smell, makesure they're proper.
Okay.
Trying to party out here, youknow what I mean?
No, I'm just kidding.
But no, that people really goout of their way to make us
(13:03):
comfortable.
Right.
Right.
And that goes to show that justfrom what we do, um, it is
really affecting a wholecommunity.
And in the food bank now, what Iwant to do with my chef and my
culinary is we're we're talkingabout as a club, we're bringing
in other things because justdoing the food drive alone now
is starting to get beyond ourreach.
Right.
There's it's a lot happening.
(13:24):
There's a lot of moving parts tomake this happen.
So, what we're talking about nowis how can we expand this to
even different parts, differententities, like for instance, a
uh Hells Angels food drive golftournament, um, a culinary
experience where you get localchefs in the area to put on a
banquet that would benefit ourour cause, in addition to
everything we're already doing.
Yeah, it has a lot of fingersand has a lot of legs to move
(13:45):
forward, and it it really hasnothing to do more with uh with
our individual passion forhelping.
SPEAKER_02 (13:51):
Yeah, I mean, I think at the food bank too, like
for from my perspective, theHells Angels and the rest of the
motorcycle clubs arerepresenting what we ask people
to do, which is do what you can.
SPEAKER_03 (14:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:00):
You know, some people can't give us money, they
give us their time.
Right, some people give us, youknow, funding.
Some people go and get food ifthey can't.
You guys sit out for six weeksand collect food out of a
Kroger.
Uh, sometimes, probably, I wouldassume in the beginning at
least, maybe not the bestreception, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:17):
I mean, like it starts, it but believe it or
not, it fades as it goes.
You're talking about from thepeople or our help?
SPEAKER_02 (14:22):
No, from the people like coming to you and going
like you were saying, or maybegetting into the Kroger's at the
beginning there.
SPEAKER_01 (14:27):
And even last year, sometimes people will write some
hate mail to the Kroger sayingthere's uh racist groups out
front, there's uh terrorism outfront.
These why are you guys havingthese criminal outlaws out
front?
It happens all the time, right?
But we don't give a shit becausewe've already got that.
SPEAKER_02 (14:44):
We've been at the food bank two two and a half
years right now.
And when I first got here, I waslike, oh, the the motorcycle
gang.
This is what we're doing.
We're collecting food withmotorcycle clubs.
How do we do it?
So I would go into Kroger, notdressed as my like just normal
with my family, and I would godonate.
And I have never had a badexperience.
Oh, you've got to be.
I've actually had the bestexperiences.
Yeah.
But people thank me for giving.
Yeah, they don't know that I'mthe CEO of the food.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
Look, let me let me tell you this, and this goes for
any club out there, anybody outthere, any tough guy, any felon,
any prison, it doesn't matter.
No matter how tough or scary orwhatever it is your image is or
who you are or how tough youare, yeah, even the toughest
dude on the planet doesn't wantto wake up and have a bad day.
Right.
Okay?
Everyone just wants to go abouttheir day.
Yeah, and the ones who do don'tlast long, and they have nothing
(15:28):
to do with this conversation.
But for the most part, even thetoughest, the most barbaric
people want to wake up and havea good day.
Right.
Okay.
No Viking ever woke up and said,let's go pillage.
They went and pillaged for areason, but they probably didn't
want to.
They wanted to just go partyafter.
Nobody wants to wake up to a badday.
Right?
So that goes for the HellsAngels Motorcycle Club.
We're gonna be who we are, andwe're and we're and it's a it's
(15:49):
a group of great men.
Okay?
Yeah, and that's it, that's thebottom line.
SPEAKER_02 (15:52):
And the other thing it does that I talk about all
the time, and as a chef, youprobably know better than
anybody.
Like food connects us all,right?
Like correct.
It connects people withdifferent backgrounds.
I'm assuming that thesemotorcycle clubs don't hang out
together all year round.
But for one event, they can putaside differences if there are
any, they can get together andtalk about the need for food in
our community.
(16:12):
The other piece is that I'mfairly confident because I've
walked in every every lane oflife, that some of the people in
the motorcycle experienced foodinsecurity when they were kids.
Sure.
That they didn't have all thefood that they needed to make
life happen, right?
And so I enjoyed hanging outwith people that are passionate
about what they do.
I'm passionate about the foodbank.
(16:33):
I'm telling you the motorcycleclubs that collect for us, if
you're spending a Sunday and aweekend helping us collect funds
and food for people, you'repassionate about what you do,
that's all I really care about.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
After that, let's so the ignorance of the people who
who have our naysayers oranything in it, they're gonna be
there, right?
So moving forward from that,man, because it's it's it's so
important that people understandthat that's all we care about.
Right.
It's that simple.
And what you said before ispeople coming together.
The motorcycle clubs in thisarea are all together.
That's what makes this thingwork so good.
(17:04):
The ones who aren't are on theirown agenda and they're not even
part of it, and they're kind ofostracized from the whole thing
anyway, because they're just onthe outskirts and they never get
that type of they wouldn't beallowed in to have the
experience.
You you don't get the benefitonce when you don't add ever.
You see what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
So the all the clubs in thisarea are friends, we are
(17:25):
friendly, we all do talktogether, and the ones who
aren't, we don't even they don'teven regul register here, right?
Yeah.
So it's not even a thing here.
They're not even noticed,really.
We don't no one even paysattention to them until they
want to be known.
But we're not gonna let them beknown by joining something so
great when they don't add to thecommunity ever at any other
time.
Sure.
You know, yeah.
So it is a great time for us allto get together because we do
(17:47):
know each other, and it'sactually time that we use our
unity and see it happen, right?
That's what we do.
So we're you we're united allyear long.
But what you're saying is right.
When we actually get togetherand watch this unification
happen, yeah, that's when werealize shit, we actually do
have a great unity and a greatYeah, it's move it's it's it's
kind of moving in some sense.
SPEAKER_02 (18:06):
And you got like, you know, bikers for Christ next
to other people.
It's just amazing.
Like and it's just again, it'sone common cause, right?
One common cause and one way ofsix weeks a year.
Six weeks a year, one Sunday uhuh the year, right before
ironically, Thanksgiving, wherewe're gonna give thanks for the
goodness that we have in ourlife.
And it's really, I mean, it it'sit's it's a it's a feat to see.
(18:29):
We have really awesome dronefootage of it, of, of, of it
coming down.
And we'll be playing some ofthat in the background of this.
Yeah, it's amazing in thatsense.
But it really what you know, I'mgonna say this, and our world
could use more of it for sure.
Sure.
Like we know, we're we'reequally divided now more than
ever around all the differenttypes of issues.
The one thing we could agree onis that nobody, no matter
(18:50):
whether you're should go hungry.
unknown (18:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (18:52):
No, and particularly no kids should go hungry.
No kids should ever go hungry.
You know, we got somecommunities in our area,
especially like one in fourchildren in certain areas of our
community don't know where theirnext meal goes.
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
Because I've had friends who are teachers who
watch their kids in class, andobviously we see, you know, when
when lunch isn't provided, thatthat's a huge issue because most
children in this area, that'sthe only time they get to eat.
So they would be hoarding foodat the end of lunch or trying
to, you know, take fruit.
But one of my girlfriends whotaught for a long time had like,
I mean, it was a good percentageof her class dealing with that,
(19:23):
and that was in a very affluentarea on Virginia Beach that
people were like, Oh, thatdoesn't happen here.
They cleared out their food roombecause most of them do the
donation room every year wherethey bring in all the clothes
and the food at the beginning ofthe year and snacks.
In two weeks, all of that foodand clothing is gone because
those kids need it.
And she would pack everything upoff lunch trays, like the fruit
that wasn't eaten and thingslike that, take it to her
(19:46):
classroom and sneak it intotheir backpacks every day.
And I think people need torealize that that is happening
and it happens more than youthink.
SPEAKER_03 (19:53):
Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
And if you can't come together for the greater
good of supporting thiscommunity, then you're not, you
don't deserve it in your ownlife.
Like I think that it's just youhave to look past any kind of
indifferences.
And that was my biggest takeawaywhen we were in the media side
of it, because we said the mediadoesn't support.
We we did some of the I know Iwas at some of the free drives
through the media, so I know Iwas there back in the day.
(20:14):
Things have changed a littlebit, you know, especially
post-COVID, people not going tocertain places with the the
media stuff.
But you know, I'm gonna helpwith that this year.
But when I was there, it was thebest experience.
And we worked, I think the radiostation kind of parlays in
between as well to kind ofmediate and get people in.
Um, but just seeing people inthis area actually say, hey,
it's okay to show up and help.
(20:34):
And if you're gonna run yourmouth, then put some action
behind it.
SPEAKER_02 (20:37):
Right.
And we have 7,000 volunteers ayear at the food bank that help
us every year that gives usmillions of dollars worth of.
Send some our way this time.
We are sending 154 your way thistime.
I appreciate that.
For sure.
Like people hopefully be raisingtheir hands.
Right.
Exactly.
Because I mean, and we'reexcited about it because again,
you know, I hope what this does,if it does anything, is bring
(20:58):
attention to the idea thateverybody in your community can
make a difference and that we'reall we we all know people that
struggle.
Some of us may have struggled inthe past, yeah, but we all can
do what we can.
And again, that's what I thinkMayflower Marathon is really all
about.
There are people that come thereand just pack food for us for
hours.
They do too.
They do.
I've seen it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:17):
And I remember when we used to bring two or three
track trucks.
Remember this, we used to bringthree or two or three trucks
there, and we would have to theywould all unload it.
We didn't have it figured outyet and how we were gonna do it.
Yeah, yeah.
So that we'd unload thetrailers.
unknown (21:30):
Oh, god.
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
Volunteers, it looked like we're it looked like
we were smuggling.
I mean, it was like we're takingthem out of one truck, put them
in the other, the other onewould take off, get the hell out
of there.
People were probably like, whatthe hell's really going on over
here, right?
Right.
Yeah, right.
No, but really, I mean, it was alot.
So now it became into all thevolunteers that were there
working it were were uh it wasamazing.
(21:52):
Yeah, and they had their shitfigured out, which was great.
Um, you know, it comes down to,you know, when it comes down to
the clubs helping and doingthat, it I don't believe anymore
that that it's people say, well,the Hells Angels do great for
the community.
That's that's wonderful, thankyou, but that's not really what
we're about.
We're we're we're men whoactually um have a great vehicle
(22:13):
to be able to do what it is welove doing.
And and that's that in this sixweeks a year, yeah, we put
everything the fuck aside and wedo what we do.
And that's the end of it.
And and it's not we don't we'renot looking for reward, we're
not looking for anything.
We're actually just looking forrecognition to be able to expand
our level of help.
You know what I mean?
Get the get the word out thereto get it done.
End of story.
That's it.
There's no sapness to it,there's no sorriness to it.
(22:34):
It's it either we we either gethelp or we have to slow it down.
Yeah you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02 (22:37):
And so the best part about it, too, and I I want to
make sure we give a shout-out toour staff who make this happen,
is that all that food'scollected through Sunday.
Sure.
And all of that food is out ourdoor before Thanksgiving.
It's crazy.
So three days, 200,000 poundsgoes out.
Not so like I always like totell people, you know, 100,000
(22:59):
pounds, what does that reallymean?
No, the Hells and Angels and theclubs, that's 87,000 meals that
people ate.
Right.
Because of you.
SPEAKER_01 (23:08):
What did you do for your community today?
Exactly.
What the hell did you do, Mr.
Fucking Naysayer?
You didn't do it, did you?
87,000.
So incredible, right?
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
You got your training at Chick-fil-A.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like pumping them through there.
SPEAKER_01 (23:19):
So it's it's it's a matter of um, you know, you can
you can sit here and claim anarea, you can claim you're uh
you're involved with yourcommunity.
You get like you said a minuteago, you can put your money
where your mouth is, right?
Yeah.
So you you really gotta eitheryou can say that all you want
to, or you can let the communityspeak for you.
And when it comes to the foodbank and the Hells Angels, the
community knows what's going onwith that relationship.
(23:39):
Same thing with Kroger.
People are very well aware nowwhen they go to Kroger during
this time frame, we're gonna bethere and they're excited to be
there with you.
And it's like I said, it's it'sa wonderful relationship, and
we're very proud of it.
Um I always had where are wegoing in the future with it?
We're working on that, right?
SPEAKER_02 (23:55):
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (23:56):
I've always had this dream as a chef and someone in
the community that I would haveuh almost like a Thanksgiving
spread one day where I can havepeople come and eat and we would
serve that.
But being in the restaurantindustry like I am, I'm so busy
all the time that cooking tothat level would be a whole new
thing.
Yeah, but it would alsointerfere with the amount of
(24:16):
work we need to do to get thefood bank in.
So I don't know what would bemore beneficial to the people.
A place where they can go onThanksgiving and eat a meal or
having a meal in theircupboards, because what you said
before was interesting.
Thirty three days people come inthere and pound all this food
out the door.
SPEAKER_03 (24:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (24:35):
Just on ours alone, six tractor trailer fuels last
year.
Exactly right.
They get rid of it in threedays.
None of that, well, not none,sorry.
A very small percentage of thatis literally related to
Thanksgiving.
Right.
This isn't Thanksgiving food.
We're not talking about sixtrails of stuffing and cranberry
sauce.
They're not coming in there toget their Thanksgiving meal.
This is regular a hundredthousand pounds of food.
(24:57):
Spaghetti O's all the way downto tuna to baby wipes.
Everything you could want.
Diapers have been a huge thing.
Yep.
Uh formula.
These are all things that ourpeople are bringing in to us,
right?
And and for three days for allthat to go literally shows the
need for it's not just aboutThanksgiving, man.
This is just this is just ahoney hole.
It's really never about this.
SPEAKER_00 (25:18):
No, it's not it's just it's a way to market it
because it's more marketablebecause the holidays are not
going to be able to do that.
That brings more attention.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
And you know, the holidays bring attention to
nonprofits across the country.
People want more attention.
People want to help.
It's the giving season.
They're called that for areason.
Yeah.
Well, you can't.
And I appreciate the fact thatyou you think about you know
wanting to cook for there's noway you can ever feed 87,000
people like you do.
There's not.
SPEAKER_01 (25:37):
So do I that's where I'm at now?
Yeah.
Would would I host an event thatwould allow a hundred or two
hundred people in the communityto come to?
That would be a very nicegesture.
SPEAKER_02 (25:45):
For sure.
SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
But it would also take away from 87,000 people who
would actually be thereliterally eating for a couple of
days in their cupboards.
Absolutely.
You know what I mean?
Digging out their cupboards.
So if I'm not cooking all theseturkeys and doing what I'd
really love to do, right?
We still got some spaghettios upthere.
Exactly right.
Um, we got something.
SPEAKER_00 (26:02):
Well, I know you said hunger, I mean, it knows no
season, and since this is kindof more of an educational
episode for people of how togive back.
SPEAKER_03 (26:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (26:09):
Let's talk about the needs.
So, where is the most need, thethings you guys need, and how
can people, you know, really,really make a difference in the
community.
SPEAKER_02 (26:17):
So, what two things that the food bank is really
focused on in the last two yearsis one, trying to provide
healthier food, like not leadinginto the process or problem of
getting people healthier so thatthey can work, so that they can
be educated, so they can dothose things.
And unfortunately, healthy foodis also oftentimes the most
expensive.
So produce, lean protein.
(26:37):
So we're focusing on that.
You know, the number one thingyou can give us is your your
dollars.
And I hate to say it that way,but we we treasure that.
Like one of the biggest thingsthat we're I'm proud of as the
food bank is 95 cents of everydollar you give us goes directly
to people.
SPEAKER_03 (26:52):
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (26:53):
So we have a five percent administrative rate.
We have to have refrigerators,we have to have payroll, we have
to house this is gonna have tosay that 95 cents of every
dollar is going into the handsof somebody in need is
important.
Yeah.
Number two, we're really workingwith the working poor.
We're not providing the meal forevery single every meal of every
(27:14):
person's life.
Like that is not what we'redoing.
We have soup kitchens, we helpout with all of those things.
But we're really working withpeople that work every day and
their food budget with inflationand the cost of food, they
cannot afford what we used toafford.
It's just crazy.
Right?
And so we're not talking aboutproviding every meal for every
person every day.
We're talking about helping.
I'll give you a great story thatuh when I first started at the
(27:36):
food bank, um, I I really didn'tknow what I was doing.
I'd never been a food banker.
I didn't even know food bankingwas a word.
And I I would go in line withsome of our uh neighbors and
just shop with them and ask themhow they're doing, et cetera.
And I went into our Franklinfacility, uh, which is in uh
Franklin, Virginia, it was justopened, and I was shopping with
(27:58):
a mother and her teenage son,and I said, You know, you mind
if I ask what you do for aliving?
And she's like, I I I'm afarmer.
I said, Oh, really?
What farm do you work on?
She said, No, I own a farm.
I said, You own a farm andyou're coming to us for food.
You're it just was aneye-opening experience.
Like the margin in farms, smallfarms is very small.
Like it could be anybody at anytime that needs that little bit
(28:20):
of help.
SPEAKER_03 (28:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
Uh and so again, we're super excited about the
idea that people are we'regrowing.
Like we're we're we're we'vegone up 35% in our food
distribution in the last twoyears, where other food banks
are going down 18%.
Well, and that's because we havegotten the community involved.
You guys are out there.
SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
I've I've lived in different areas throughout, and
I travel a lot.
Yeah, and and I pay attention tolittle things, especially things
I'm involved with in one way oranother.
Um, and and I I don't see asmuch you guys are in the public.
You you you get out there.
So I don't know if it's becauseyou have a great team who
understands outreach, you knowwhat I'm saying?
Or you know, Mallory, are youtalking about for sure?
Yeah, getting out to the social,getting out on the streets,
(29:04):
getting out and being part ofthings, awareness, right?
Uh being being sometimes youhave to learn when and where to
pick your pick your place.
Yeah.
So sometimes, you know, peoplewill place themselves in things
that aren't as relevant orthey're not as helpful as where
you would here.
And it seems like you guys havea match.
Mallory has a has a has a natchfor that of a niche for doing
(29:24):
this.
You know what I'm saying?
It's you know what I mean, Chrisand the case.
SPEAKER_00 (29:27):
Well, you guys, I mean it's you know, and it's an
evolution because you know,you've learned more in
marketing, we've gotten, youknow, the community here is
stronger, there's more awarenessaround it.
So a lot of those things helpwhen you guys do that.
But uh that was the biggestthing that always stood out to
me, though, was the the perdollar.
Yeah because and I I was alwaysamazed because people are like,
oh, go buy a can of soup anddrop it off.
Give you guys a dollar and youcan buy multiple cans of soup.
(29:49):
So it it doesn't take a lot ofeffort to help.
Yep.
And when you say one dollarmakes a difference, that one
dollar could be lunch forsomebody for days.
And you're not thinking thatway.
SPEAKER_02 (29:59):
50 cents a meal, basically.
So I mean, if you give us adollar, we can provide two meals
for that because we can leveragedonated food like you that you
do every year.
We can leverage our buyingpower.
Yeah.
We rescue food from almost everyuh um uh grocery store in our
area.
So we're we're picking up threeor four times a week from almost
every grocery store.
We rescued nine million poundsof food last year alone, just
(30:21):
from food that was meant to bethrown out.
There are people that say Oh, wethrow all the food away.
SPEAKER_00 (30:25):
We like the people will say that.
The naysayers will say that, oh,well, you know, they're throwing
all this food away.
So you guys actually are gettingsome of that.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
Yeah.
So most most uh grocery storesare we're picking up two or
three times a week from wherefrom their from their produce
section, from their lean proteinsection, but also from their dry
goods section.
Yeah.
Um a lot of bakery,unfortunately.
That's what we get the most of.
Yeah.
But we love bread.
I love it.
So we're we're good.
(30:53):
So I mean, we're we're we'rereally fortunate in that sense
to have this kind of umcommunity and and and but and
unfortunately it doesn't meetthe need.
I always say so.
We deliver the weight of anelephant of food every hour that
we're open.
unknown (31:06):
That's great.
SPEAKER_02 (31:07):
So think about an elephant going out.
But to meet the need, it had tobe three elephants and a baby
elephant.
So per every hour.
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
Well, you think about that, and and and that's a
lot of food too, because youthink how much is a box of
spaghetti weigh?
SPEAKER_02 (31:18):
Yeah, it's not much.
SPEAKER_01 (31:18):
Yeah, nothing.
Yep.
Yeah, you guys are doing a lot.
Box spaghetti is a pound.
How many weight, how much poundsis in an elephant?
That's a lot of spaghetti.
Yeah, for sure.
It's a lot of spaghetti.
That's how you're gonna startmeasuring shit in the kitchen.
Not only that, though, thatactually sounds pretty good.
Okay, got it.
Elephant bowl is sitting with aspaghetti.
So it's it's interesting whenyou start breaking it down and
looking at what's what all thatstuff.
(31:39):
I just wanted to have you comeon our show because our show is
about, like I said at thebeginning of this, everybody
knows who watches this show.
The restaurant industry,gruesome, grueling, fun,
exciting, uh uh disappointing.
It's got it's just a rollercoaster of emotions.
Um what I do as a chef and whatI do in my restaurants is is we
(32:00):
can talk about that all day longand still have topic after topic
after topic.
But it is food, it is a fooddrive.
I really wanted to put it outthere that in all different
levels and ways, food, youeither come into a high-end
restaurant and paying for it,yeah, or you're doing what you
can to get it no matter what.
Food is essential, more thananything.
Oxygen, water, food.
(32:21):
You gotta have it.
Heat, roof, these are things youhave to have.
Exactly right.
So at the best, whitetablecloth, as you see in the
background, my restaurantsprovide that for the people who
do that.
But I also don't only want tostop there.
I, as a Hells Angel and a just aman, yeah, right, I want to be
able to help at every level.
I want food, I want people toeat.
(32:42):
I want people to eat.
And if if there was a way Icould clone myself to cook at
all levels, I would.
You know what I'm saying?
But I uh unfortunately for thelower levels that uh that I
can't cook at because I'm I'mbusy where I am, right?
It's hard for me to do that.
So the best way I can give back,and and and my brothers in the
club feel the same exact way, isthat we we give back to the to
that.
That's how we do it.
Yeah, everyone needs to eat,it's all food related, it's a
(33:04):
burnt hands perspective thing.
It's it's uh it's who I am.
Um, I'm not here to solicit theHell's Angels in any fucking
way, uh, but I happen to be one.
And that's in the and and I haveall the honor in that in the
world.
And and the stuff my brothers,it's not really about me, it's
about what my brothers gothrough to do to do this because
they are not all in the foodindustry, they all don't have
(33:25):
the access to food or the peoplein the food industry like I do.
Yeah, until last year I didn'tknow you were, yeah.
Exactly.
So a lot of people don't know.
But then again, a lot of peoplewatching this show don't know
I'm a Hells Angel.
Right.
So I don't hide behind anything.
So the people who don't know howI'm a chef, they'll know.
The people who don't know I'm aHell's Angel will know.
There's no, it's just a matterof time.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:44):
So bottom line.
Bottom line.
Bottom line.
Gotta help.
SPEAKER_01 (33:48):
Gotta help.
So I'm doing this as a man, andI happen to be a Hells Angel.
So I'm not trying to push that,I'm just letting people know
that it takes all kinds ofpeople to do the right thing,
right?
That's exactly right.
Any knucklehead can do the wrongthing.
Every person who does somethingright can also do something
wrong, right?
So we're just normal people,right?
Yeah.
And you guys as a food bank havehelped us be able to provide in
(34:09):
a way that we probably wouldn'tbe able to do in any other way.
No one really wants to acceptthat's it's sad to say, but
there's a lot of people don'twant to accept the relationship
with the hell's angels.
And you guys have.
SPEAKER_03 (34:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (34:20):
And and and you you helped us prove that wrong.
Of course, there's some peopleout there that probably don't
want a relationship with thehell's angel, and I'm cool with
that too.
That's fine.
They're not they're not yourpeople.
It's okay.
It is what it is.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna kind ofend this off unless Kristen, you
have anything more?
SPEAKER_00 (34:38):
No, I just think that, yeah, I mean, call to
action, where people can helpyear-round, how people can give
back in the community.
SPEAKER_02 (34:44):
Yeah, I think you know, well, one, come out to the
Kroger and and see for yourselfwhat would these guys do for six
weeks prior to Saturday andSunday every month, starting
last week of October, all theway through to the last week and
of Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01 (34:55):
Year later.
SPEAKER_02 (34:56):
If you want to give online, foodbancoline.org.
If you want to come volunteerwith us, we have volunteer
opportunities every single day.
We have volunteer opportunitieswhere you can see the face of
hunger and give food directly.
We have volunteer opportunitiesif you want to just box food for
us.
We have volunteer opportunitiesto rescue that food that we
talked about earlier.
There's a lot of places and waysthat you can do something to
(35:16):
make a difference.
And again, our message is yeah,I want, for sure, I want the
$10,000,$20,000,$30,000donations.
I mean, that makes my life aheck of a lot easier for sure.
But I also want the$1 donationwhere that one dollar means more
to you than anything else.
Yeah.
I want the person that can't dothat for us, for sure.
Those are the ways you can getfoodbanklin.org.
(35:37):
And then hopefully, if you needhelp, you will come.
And you can go to that samewebsite and you can click on a
map that says, here's where Ilive or here's where I work, and
then it'll populate 10 to 20different places in your area
where you can get help.
And so we want to make sure thatpeople don't feel like there's a
stigma to getting help.
(35:57):
We all struggle at times.
Yeah.
And make sure that you know thatwe're here for you, and the
hell's angels are here for youon the Thanksgiving time and uh
to make a difference for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (36:07):
Appreciate it.
Absolutely.
And I'm gonna say this, I'mgonna close out with this.
There's always gonna benaysayers, there's always gonna
be negative.
Even the food bank might get alittle, well, I can't still
believe you're helping theHell's Angels.
If you're going to do that,please do.
We don't give a shit.
I don't care what you thinkabout us.
I don't, no one cares.
You don't like it, see us, seeit, and we'll talk about it,
right?
Right.
So, other than that, if you'regonna go say anything negative,
(36:28):
if you're gonna post anythingnegative, save it off the social
media, write it down on a pieceof paper, wrap it around a can
of something, bring it to thefood bank, and leave your little
message on a can so you can atleast say you've done something
other than bitched about it,right?
Right?
I agree.
And then we'll actually promoteyou saying how good of a person
(36:48):
you are for helping the homelessor helping the hungry, right?
Not the homeless so much, butthe hungry.
So do that.
So if you're gonna bitch,complain, write bad reviews, or
even question anything, writeyour little memo on a can, bring
it to the food bank, and do itthat way so you too can be part
of the solution instead of partof the problem.
Okay?
That's what I got for you.
That's it.
(37:09):
Take care, brush your hair.
Ciao for now.
SPEAKER_00 (37:13):
Ciao for now.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
Yeah, my pleasure.
Thank you.
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