July 15, 2020
Daniel Nguyen and Katherine Lam, owners of Bambuza Restaurant love giving back to their community, whether through distributing care packages for the homeless or partnering with local schools. Nguyen and Lam, who own and operate Bambuza locations in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and in Portland, saw how COVID-19 was impacting their communities and essential workers and found an opportunity to make a difference.
Nguyen and Lam started AntoGen Outfitters to provide free face coverings to non-profit community service organizations that care for low-income and underserved populations in the region. The name AntoGen comes from their two daughters, Antoinette and Genevieve. To turn their venture from a dream to reality, they connected with a factory in Vietnam to develop a line of comfortable cloth face coverings for sale to individuals, businesses, organizations, and public agencies. Sales from these face coverings help fund free distribution to those in need.
While the restaurant industry has slowed down in the wake of COVID-19, Bambuza has been able to use a section of their warehouse to stage face coverings for pick up and shipping.
“There is a lot of creativity and follow through. Everyone is wearing a lot of hats right now and learning on the fly,” Erin Frank, Communications Director for Bambuza said. “It’s nice to not feel helpless in the wake of everything going on. We are building community relationships to give back to vulnerable populations. We couldn’t do it without the sale of masks to our community partners.”
An initial donation of 5,000 cloth face coverings is being distributed throughout the Seattle and Portland regions on a first-come, first-served basis. Over time, Lam and Nguyen plan to donate 100,000 face coverings to farmworkers, domestic workers, food service, and grocery workers in need. Every purchase of AntoGen’s Triple-Layer Comfort Mask helps fund more grants to more people in the community. The Port of Seattle has purchased 4,000 face coverings for dining and retail tenants and airport workers to keep SEA safe for employees and travelers.
“We want to support the most vulnerable in our society and help keep people safe. Sales of our masks to community organizations like the Port of Seattle allow us to give back to the community in the form of protective gear. It’s truly a partnership,” Lam said.
AntoGen recently donated 300 masks to the Community Healing Initiative, an organization that serves African-American youth and their families involved in the juvenile justice system.
Brice Williams, client of the Community Healing Initiative, appreciates the help.
“The AntoGen Community Face Mask Program has helped our youth and families feel like there’s someone out there who cares about our community. We are on strict budgets and having the added cost of buying masks for all members of our families really adds up. I’m thankful for the Community Face Mask Program for caring about us black and brown folks when at times it feels like a lot of people don’t. It’s nice that they see us and want to help. It makes me want to give back too, kind of like paying it forward to the next person in need.”
Because People Matter, (BPM) a Portland-based organization that focuses on mobilization, relief, and transformation for populations in the margins, received a donation of 500 face coverings that is being distributed to communities in need.
“We immediately began distributing them in the parks where we serve people a sack lunch and let people know they are loved already,” said Alexis Harris, Director of Relief at BPM. “Over three weeks, we have distributed 300 masks and have used them to educate park visitors of the public transportation requirements. People were very grateful, often asking to take masks to family members who need them.”
How to participate:
All sales will fund donations of face coverings to vulnerable populations in our region.
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Community organizations: Apply for the Community Face Mask Program online
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Consumers: Purchase your own face covering online
- Large orders or custom requests: Email [email protected]
