Gratefull Box
Gratefull Box (https://gratefullbox.com) is a modern food gift for a good cause. The company was started by our founder, Julee, with a mission to support small-business artisans, advocate for sustainability, and, most importantly, help save rescue dogs.
Black Lives Matter
Before college, I knew very little about institutionalized racism. In grade school, we learned about the Civil Rights Movement but the language used insisted that the struggles of African/Black Americans were a thing of the past. As I went on to major in Sociology, I studied racism more extensively, read literature like Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail (which I believe to be one of the most powerful things I’ve read til this day), and gained a better understanding of how discrimination and racism is still very deeply ingrained in our society. It pained me to see the many systems purposely set up to target Black Americans – keeping a core part of our country from proper access to resources, opportunities, and basic human rights.
In years past, due to the advances in media technology, I got more of a visual glimpse into the inequalities and social injustices that, I came to know, had always been very real in the US. And in recent weeks, I witnessed individuals, communities and organizations come together to speak out and take action against police brutality and racism against Black Americans. These brave acts inspired me and my team to contribute, but we didn’t know exactly how. Then we realized, we just need to take a step, however small, to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The step we’ve decided on is this. In June 2020, we donated $4000 worth of services to 4 Black-owned food or beverage companies, in addition to 5% of the month’s profits to Black Lives Matter organizations.
We’re a very small company so we know this isn’t a lot but we hope to contribute to this incredibly meaningful movement in any way we can. We hope you will, too.
– Julee Ho
Local Orange County Restaurants
As restaurant owners have been tremendously impacted by COVID-19, most have had to completely restructured their businesses. For most, that meant going from in-restaurant dining to a fully takeout and delivery model. We wanted to help by providing free takeout photography to restaurants in Orange County, CA.
Small Companies Impacted by Expo West Cancellation
One of our clients were generous enough to offer us a free ticket to Expo West 2020, which we excitedly accepted and were eager to attend the trade show for the very first time. However, as we now know, COVID shut down all events around the world, including Expo West. For many small food and beverage companies, that meant having so much of their time and hard-earned money went to waste due to the resources that had already been invested in the show (travel to the show, booth setup, wasted products, cost of shipping, etc.). Though a small consolation, we offered free photography services to any company impacted by the show’s cancellation to provide some value during this tough time.