Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Meet Team Hidi 4.0

When it comes to sports, most people can readily identify their favorite teams. When it comes to charitable organizations, the most popular team in Atlanta, Georgia remains to be Team Hidi 4.0. With more than 50 local restaurants on the team roster, this dynamic group has become the heart and soul of the important work performed by The Giving Kitchen.

Ranging from upscale and trendy eateries, to small local pubs and restaurants, all of these businesses have joined together to help The Giving Kitchen raise much needed and appreciated funds that are ultimately donated to individual workers in the Atlanta restaurant circle. Helping those that face medical crises or conditions, The Giving Kitchen has already gifted over $600,000 to help more than 350 people work on their treatment and recovery programs in order to get back on their feet.

Team Hidi 4.0 is named after the founders of The Giving Kitchen, Ryan and Jen Hidinger. Both Ryan and Jen had dedicated their lives to bringing joy and good food to their restaurant patrons. When Ryan was discovered to be dealing with a late stage of cancer, their focus had to turn towards their own personal needs. That is when their friends and colleagues in the restaurant field got together and raised much needed funds to help Ryan and Jen cover excessive medical costs. They were both so touched by this spontaneous outreach by their friends and local community, that they agreed that the best repayment was to offer the same help to others. This is how The Giving Kitchen was started.

Their efforts now extend beyond helping persons on a one-on-one basis. Recently, The Giving Kitchen was instrumental in bringing together restaurant professions, such as Susan Rachele, who had many other connections in the industry, in order to help more than 1,000 restaurant workers who found themselves out of jobs after their chain of a dozen restaurants closed without prior notice. By networking together, this group was able to help these workers get new jobs.

Be sure to visit The Giving Kitchen at their website at http://thegivingkitchen.org/ where you can learn more about the valuable work that they do in Atlanta, Georgia.