Southern Smoke Foundation
Foundation · Museum District
4200 Montrose Blvd #430, Houston, TX 77006
Highlights
Supports restaurant workers with financial & mental health aid
Supports restaurant workers with financial & mental health aid
"This foundation likewise provides an online application process for affected individuals to request emergency relief support, citing its efforts as part of a broader response to recent natural disasters that have impacted communities nationwide." - Jesse Sparks
"Returning for its eighth year this October, this festival — the brainchild of James Beard Award–winning chef Chris Shepherd — centers on unlimited food and drink from dozens of lauded chefs (including roughly a third from Houston) while raising emergency relief funds for restaurant workers; attendees are advised to come hungry, ideally with reinforcements like disposable trays and a game plan, since trying dishes from 73 chefs is a monumental task, and the preview highlights 10 particularly exciting offerings." - Brittany Britto Garley
"The Southern Smoke Festival, hosted by Chef Chris Shepherd, is an annual outdoor food and drink festival benefiting restaurant workers in crisis. The 2024 edition will feature 73 chefs from around the country, including notable names like Aaron Franklin and Emmanuel Chavez. The festival also includes cooking demonstrations, live music, and giveaways, with proceeds supporting the Southern Smoke Foundation’s emergency relief fund and mental health program." - Brittany Britto Garley
"Led by Houston’s James Beard Award–winning chef Chris Shepherd and his wife Lindsey Brown (the executive director), this nonprofit has distributed $12.3 million in aid to restaurant workers since its 2015 launch and continues to increase annual grantmaking. As of July 1, Brown reports the organization has already awarded more than $1 million this year — a stark contrast to 2023’s total of just over $1 million — which she attributes to growing awareness and to rising need driven largely by storms and wildfires. The group has provided targeted relief after events such as Storm Derecho (disbursing $330,600 to 372 grantees, about $888 each) and Tropical Storm Beryl, continues to assist workers affected by the Ruidoso and Maui fires (including a recent $35,000 GlobalGiving grant to help 23 people), and still has roughly 400 people on its waitlist. In addition to emergency cash assistance, it operates a no-cost mental-health counseling program delivered through partner universities and has expanded those services into several additional states and Washington, D.C. Its annual fundraising festival at Downtown’s Discovery Green helps raise the funds that support these grants and services for hospitality workers in crisis." - Brittany Britto Garley
"A two-day philanthropic food-and-drink festival led by Houston’s James Beard–winning chef Chris Shepherd that returned for its seventh year, drawing nearly 4,000 attendees and about 60 chefs to Downtown. The event combined high-profile fundraising with a block-party atmosphere—VIP experiences, a large general-admission crowd, live music and DJs, and chefs offering unlimited bite-sized creations—and raised $1.8 million for the festival’s anchoring nonprofit, which issues emergency-relief grants and funds no-cost mental-health counseling for food and beverage workers across the U.S." - Brittany Britto Garley
