We counter isolation and food insecurity within the Asian elderly community by delivering culturally thoughtful meals & love notes

Donate to support Asian Elderly with care packages of culturally meaningful food that are thoughtfully sourced and curated, then assembled inside uniquely illustrated brown bags with handwritten notes attached in the Elderly's native language. These are all hand-delivered to our homebound Elderly recipients to counter the loneliness and isolation they experience.

Heart of Dinner was founded by romantic couple Yin Chang and Moonlynn Tsai over a shared love for language and food. Their late-night conversations about the global impact of COVID-19 and the heightened racism towards Asian Americans, especially towards the Elderly community, soon became questions around how to create uplifting change that bridge cultural divides and heal communities.

On April 1st 2020, the duo cooked the first-ever Heart of Dinner hot lunches for those most vulnerable around Manhattan's Chinatown area, with a focus on homebound elders who've historically been overlooked by society where they are rarely allocated resources and access to basic necessities for survival. Immediately after its inception, Heart of Dinner's blueprint works in a way that purchases culturally thoughtful and senior-friendly hot dishes and groceries to support in the local small businesses' Covid-19 recovery process. With the help of their values-aligned restaurant partners, a thriving community of volunteers, and incredible donors, Heart of Dinner has been able to expand its reach throughout the different boroughs in NYC.

Equally as important as the meals, Heart of Dinner counters isolation and loneliness within the Asian Elderly population. With the talk of depression often stigmatized in Elderly immigrant generations, Heart of Dinner's mission is to provide comfort, warmth, cheer, and a feeling of belonging in a thoughtful and holistic way that respects and honors the cultural nuances. Since April 1st, 2020, handwritten notes of love and encouragement in the Elderly's native languages have been included with each meal; notes that say "We are thinking of you and we love you!" With the tremendous help of thousands of volunteers, Heart of Dinner is able to deliver culturally thoughtful foods that are assembled inside care packages that are made with uniquely hand-illustrated bags attached with the handwritten notes.

Heart of Dinner has been delivering care packages every Wednesday for nearly three years and has shown up for the Elderly with intention and dedication, never once missing a Wednesday (even showing up during holidays, snowstorms, and hailstorms!) To join Heart of Dinner in their efforts to continue reaching more homebound Elderly living in isolation throughout NYC and help them eventually make their way to the Los Angeles and San Francisco/Oakland area, please consider donating.

Heart Of Dinner Inc

A hot plate of food when it’s needed most. For people fighting or fleeing disasters, we are here. 

Ten years ago, my wife Patricia and I had a big dream to start World Central Kitchen. We envisioned an organization that would create smart solutions to hunger and poverty, and for many years we saw an amazing impact through our clean cookstoves initiative, culinary training programs, and social enterprise ventures that empower communities and strengthen economies. But we had no idea we would one day be answering the call in Puerto Rico and around the world – “Food First Responders” serving millions of meals each year. In the process, we learned that a small NGO can change the world through the power of food.

Last year, WCK activated in response to dozens of disasters — some of them natural, and some man-made. From serving children in the shelters on our border with Mexico to making deliveries by lamplight to those keeping watch over beaches in Indonesia, our fight to feed the hungry has taken us to more places than we ever expected.

At the same time, WCK continues planting roots in the communities where we work. Our Plow to Plate program is helping to create food resiliency in the face of future disasters. In Haiti, aspiring chefs are obtaining the skills and confidence they need to elevate their careers and the country’s tourism sector.

With your help, we have shown that there is no place too far or disaster too great for our chefs to be there with a hot plate of food when it’s needed most.

I hope you’ll dream with us as we envision a world where there is always a warm meal, an encouraging word, and a helping hand in hard times. Thank you for taking this journey with us.

Join me in fulfilling the inspiring words of John Steinbeck: Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, we will be there.

We must be there.
- Jose Andres, founder