Texas Is Still Powerless, Heatless, Waterless. But a Growing Group of Chefs Are Freely Distributing Food and Cash.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The situation in Texas is so grim—millions without power, heat, water, food—that any act of community support needs amplifying and multiplying. Against the storm’s backdrop are volunteer efforts by chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen has partnered with local eateries to freely feed people affected by outages. His nonprofit has distributed 2,000 meals to residents of senior living homes without power. And it’s not enough.

As we continue to learn what’s disastrously wrong at the level of emergency management and systems of accountability (much of it well-aired), mobilization continues, including in this related story of giveaways by Boombox Taco Truck. The truck is feeding nearly 1,000 families. Truck owners had no power themselves for days before opening to hand out 2,400 tacos at eight apartment complexes. Learn more about Boombox. Or about restaurant owner Max Bozeman II of Greasy Spoon Soulfood Bistro, who’s giving away $10,000 to families needing food and shelter all while battling medical challenges of his own. Follow his giveaways on Instagram.

If you live in storm-battered states or have friends and family who do—and there’s good news—reach us at recharge@motherjones.com.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate