NY nonprofit combats food insecurity, focuses on families ineligible for unemployment

The Connected Chef's Lifeline Grocery Initiative is feeding 700 families in need per week.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, The Connected Chef focused on education, cooking and gardening classes. The organization's priorities changed to combating food insecurity when COVID-19 began to spread across New York City, director and co-founder Kim Calichio explained. Calichio and her husband are both restaurant chefs and have been in the food service industry for a very long time. Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef Photo courtesy of Kim Calichio/The Connected Chef "We knew that specifically families were going to be now out of work, but also not qualify for unemployment benefits or any other sufficient government aid," Calichio told Fox News. "We really saw at face value that there were some serious inequities and issues within both food distribution and food access, not just in Queens, but across the country." The couple decided to launch the Lifeline Grocery Initiative, which offers free grocery packages to households in need.