Help Isky Feed Our Neighbors

Isky just served his 10,000th soup to our neighbors!

(Portrait by Souper Saucer Noach Phillips)

 

But let's back up. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Isky Chishty, whether over chopping dozens of onions at a time, while delivering hot soup and care to folks who are homeless, marginally housed, or in need of a free, healthy meal throughout Berkeley and Oakland, or at the Dargahrden, you know that he is a paradigm of compassion and humility.

(Isky is in the red shirt on the left, serving soup to neighbors on the side of the street)

 

Isky is the successor of Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajájè (also known as Ibrahim Baba), a Sufi Muslim sheikh. Isky is devoted to multi-religious social justice efforts, especially those centered around alleviating poverty, and has been running a soup-making kitchen out of the Urban Adamah kitchen for over a year, with the support of a volunteer team known as the Souper Saucers.

 

Isky, along with some encampment residents and non-profit helpers, distributes the soup to encampments in West Oakland to community sidewalk fridges. Isky and a team of volunteers can now prepare ~300 16 oz. portions of soup per week, using donations from Urban Adamah, Western Service Workers, Essential Food and Medicine, and Emeryville Citizens Assistance Project. However, as this initiative has grown, sourcing food and volunteers are no longer the issue -- space and cold storage are.

(Isky is on the right side, serving soup to neighbors at an encampment)

 

Isky needs our help to equip his second kitchen location in order to expand and feed even more neighbors. His primary need right now is a professional-grade refrigerator. Having a second kitchen and a professional large, two-door refrigerator means stocking larger quantities of ingredients, producing and storing more soup, and making applesauce, which is ideal for the many folks with dental issues living in encampments.

 

The fridge is $5,700. I have rounded this up to $6,000 so we can cover the first several months of electricity payments. Isky is applying for local government and non-profit grants to cover other kitchen elements. Isky has helped serve 10,000 meals in our community -- will you help him serve the next 10,000?

(Donated food that Isky turns into healthy, nutritious meals)