S5. E2: April Tam Smith: Radical Generosity
“…not everyone can afford to donate a certain percentage of their money, not everyone can afford to volunteer their time because they're working so much. If you can, this is your generosity to the world, this is your generosity to all the people that cannot. And I think that's kind of our duty and our privilege. What is the max generosity that you can live with, with your food choices, with your time, with your money choice?.”
- April Tam Smith
April Tam Smith is the co-founder of PS Kitchen, a plant-based restaurant in the Theater District in New York City that gives away all of its profits and hires people in need of a second chance.
By day, April is a managing director at a large New York City investment firm. While spending her days on Wall Street and nights at the restaurant, she still somehow finds an amazing amount of time to give to and serve in other communities throughout New York City, as well as around the world.
April and I sat down at PS Kitchen to talk about what it means to give, to be radically generous, to live a life of service, and the insane amounts of energy that she has - not only to do all of the above, but to do it with grace, joy, and a boundless love of life.
April is an inspiration. After hearing her story, I couldn’t help but rethink about what it means to be a human walking around on this planet and how we all could be doing it a little bit better.
I hope that you’re as moved as I was.
Visit PS Kitchen
Follow PS Kitchen on Instagram
Like PS Kitchen on Facebook
Transcript:
April: [00:00:00] It's hard to imagine the two and a half years where I doubted if I made the right call about starting this place. It took so much longer than what we were told it was going to be, it costs so much more than what we thought it was going to cost. I have really wise people that care deeply about me who were really moved by the mission but would say to me, “are you sure you don't want to just pull out? I love that you had the idea, but maybe it's time to cut your losses short.”
Elizabeth: [00:00:38] Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novogratz, this is Species Unite. We have a favor to ask, if you like today's episode and you have a spare minute, could you please rate and review Species Unite on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts? It really helps people to find the show. Today's conversation is with April Tam Smith. April is the co-founder of P.S. Kitchen, a plant based restaurant in the Theater District in New York City that gives away 100 percent of its profits and hires people in need of a second chance. By day, April is a managing director at a large New York City investment firm. Somehow between the two, she still finds an amazing amount of time to give and to serve in communities throughout New York City, as well as around the world. She and I sat down at P.S. Kitchen, we wore masks, and even though it's not open for indoor seating, it's still a little bit loud.
Elizabeth: [00:01:52] We're here at P.S. Kitchen, which is honestly my absolute favorite restaurant anywhere near the Theater District.
April: [00:01:58] That’s so nice, thank you.
Elizabeth: [00:01:59] Since you've opened, every time that I come to any kind of show, this is where we dine. So it's changed my life, but it's changed way more than my life. This place has changed so many lives. You have changed so many lives. So before we even get to P.S. Kitchen and all the incredible things that happen here, let's go back. I'm so curious about how this all started and how you decided to live such a life of service. How did it start? Did you grow up in a family where service was a big value?
April: [00:02:42] I was born in Hong Kong and I was born with parents who are either immigrants from China or their parents were immigrants from China. My mom especially would often tell me growing up how she was one of three girls and that she was fortunate enough to be picked by my grandma to go to Hong Kong, which is such a sad idea. Not because of anything really that she did, she just happened to be the naughtiest girl of the three. My grandma felt bad to leave her with the neighbor, as she did with the two older ones, and brought her to Hong Kong with her. My mom actually started working when she was only 11 years old. Even at that age she knew that getting to go to Hong Kong, even though she was already working full time as a young age, kind of opened up many doors. I think with that kind of perspective, I just always thought things like, wow, why do I get to stay in school? Why do we get to move over to the U.S. and start this life here? So I always felt like I almost had an obligation, but also a privilege to give back to everyone.
Elizabeth: [00:04:00] How old were you when you moved from Hong Kong?
April: [00:04:03] Funny enough, also 11. We also didn't come over with very much money, as you can imagine. So we didn't have a whole lot to give in terms of resources, but I just always knew. My dad was always the one volunteering to help all the other immigrants. We used to have these six a.m. math classes, and he would always be the one that offered to drive the other Chinese kids in our community to school because other parents were working in restaurants and they were working so late. He would say, “Hey, I can do it.” I think at some point I realized my heart was just filled, to put people, or animals first. I remember being nine, and I would plead for my mom to take me to the park and feed these kittens because I literally wanted to cry seeing that they were hungry and they might not necessarily have food to eat. We would go to China and I would see all these kids that are so sad and they're homeless. As you're growing up, you kind of feel this pressure to be stronger or harden your heart, or don't be so naive. That's a big message. I think secretly inside I always thought, oh, I want to cry for these things or I want to do something, I believe I can do something. I think I was always a little bit self-conscious about being too hopeful or too optimistic, to the point that it was naive. But as I grew up and I am mature now as a businesswoman, I feel like I've given myself this freedom. I am passionate. I do think for some reason, I was born with an abundance of compassion and I do cry easily and I'm not going to be ashamed of that anymore. I'll just actually use this gift in a way to do something good.
Elizabeth: [00:06:08] Were you also thinking about a life of what you're doing now? I'm just wondering, when all these seeds were planted that you decided, I am really going to just figure out every way on Earth I can give?
April: [00:06:22] Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you for making me reflect on as far back as possible. I know that, part of my giving story, the reason why I started way back with my family, definitely has something to do with the fact that we're an immigrant family. There was a lot of sort of, I help you, you help me. Even up until this day, my dad is going to hospitals with people such as a 70 something year old cancer survivor, in the middle of COVID, because he couldn't stand the fact that she couldn't understand what the doctor was saying. He just goes and does that all the time, whereas I would say, maybe you can pass on helping for a little bit. Anyway, to answer your question, back in college, I already started volunteering as it’s always something that I do enjoy doing. It was just, you know, simple things, and that's why I always encourage people. Being a 20 year old and volunteering at a community center for the underprivileged community, is just as helpful as starting a vegan restaurant or whatever it is that you're doing. So I was there at 19 or 20 years old volunteering and then I tutor SAT at night. Just simple things to help. But I really think that develops a habit of generosity that you can hang on to as you grow up, as you become more successful or whatever it is that might be in your journey,
Elizabeth: [00:07:49] That makes a lot of sense. When did the trips start? You did a lot of Haiti trips, right?
April: [00:07:54] Yes I do, it's such a big part of my life. I really, really appreciate that I get to do that. My boss calls it my vacation. I took my first trip to an orphanage in South Africa for kids that are impacted by HIV, when I was like twenty five, twenty six, about 10 years ago. Shortly after I was just really thinking and learning more about how important it is to help in a sustainable way. I read books such as, When Helping Hurts, and watched documentaries such as, Poverty Inc. Obviously a lot of the things that your sister is doing, right?
Elizabeth: [00:08:33] Yeah.
April: [00:08:34] Just lifting people up in a sustainable way. I wanted to go somewhere that's close enough that I can commit enough. Somewhere that I'm not just a fun aunt that passes by once a year with gifts. You know, that was wonderful, but I want to really help in a way that is sustainable and I can do it in a partnership. So I started going to Haiti, it was my first of 15 trips.
Elizabeth: [00:08:56] What was it like when you first got there?
April: [00:08:58] Yeah, it was rough. We landed on this dirt road, obviously no airport or anything like that. Monny Leo, the woman who runs the orphanage, she's been doing it for 50 something years, picked us up in this truck and we drove for another two hours. I remember the very first night we got there, she was so sweet saying in her Haitian accent which I just love, she said, ”Girls, I am so happy you're here. It means a lot to me that you chose to come.” I know there is definitely wisdom and various criticisms, rightfully so, sometimes about if it makes sense for people to go? Would you be better off just sending the money, etc. But I think about that moment for me and how much it had meant to her. I realize there's so much more about just the efficiency of money. Of course, we still end up helping in those practical ways that they would need. But just this human to human, sister to sister moment where she just said, Thank you, for trekking all the way from New York, one flight to another flight to another car ride later just to be with us, you know? I think those were the moments where I just knew, Hey, this is what I'm going to do. I have my day job, I have my night job.
Elizabeth: [00:10:30] That's the other thing, because I've learned a lot about you this week. I was thinking, Why doesn't anyone ever ask her if she's tired? Because you never, ever stop. I mean, the amount of hours you must put in every single day is astronomical.
April: [00:10:46] It's funny. I really think you get it, which I love. Partly I really think it's a plant based diet.
Elizabeth: [00:10:59] Tell us, what's an average day like?
April: [00:11:03] I log on to my day job, Bloomberg, at probably around 7:15 ish. Finish my day around 5:00 ish then I workout.
Elizabeth: [00:11:17] That’s a hard day. I mean, it's high stress. High intensity.
April: [00:11:20] Exactly. So, I work out. Then have dinner, which just kind of keeps you sane. Then usually when I stop working out, I'm reading my P.S. kitchen emails and all of that. Then right after I finished that, that's when my night shift starts. Then I finish whenever I finish and my weekends usually consist of board meetings and board calls or just general brainstorming. But I think, when you're doing something that is, not just passion, but that is life giving. I think if it's not for the other things that I get to do outside of my day job. I would find my day job maybe more exhausting, which is ironic.
Elizabeth: [00:12:17] Even being around you, it feels contagious. It's just incredible energy.
April: [00:12:23] I think as I mature more, I'm realizing I don't need to tone it down. My husband used this word buoyancy. There is a buoyancy that I just happened to be born with a gift that I need to use and share. I just want to hopefully get other people involved and have them feel and be contagious in this way.
Elizabeth: [00:12:48] So when you first came up with the idea or when you were decided, we're going to do this restaurant in New York City, which is a plant based restaurant, in the theater district, that gives every single profit away. So there's zero profits and the employees are all here for second chances, formerly incarcerated people.
April: [00:13:10] Yeah.
Elizabeth: [00:13:12] What were people's reactions, even in the early days of just discussing it? Oh, and also on top of that, you didn't have any restaurant experience.
April: [00:13:20] No, exactly. Sometimes I feel insecure about being naive, but that's OK. So at that point, by the time I was thinking about P.S. kitchen, I was already knee deep into the nonprofit world. I was going to Haiti quite a bit, it was a big part of my life. Every time I come back from Haiti, I would write an email to like my whole trading floor. I would talk to friends about it, and I would say, help me build a well, help me build a school, you know, help me find X, Y and Z. I myself was really stretching myself to write bigger and bigger checks, and it was just something that I really felt clear about. It genuinely wasn’t that I felt I had to, it’s not because I feel guilty about anything or that I should. I really feel and I felt like it's really a get to. But as I was doing that more, I knew that there is a sustainability aspect that I wanted to crack. There are two main things that I was trying to solve. One is the financial gifts for these organizations I'm really passionate about. I would keep donating myself, I would keep writing these emails. I loved the idea of; if there is a business that just spits out profit, that's easy for people to go to, right? Because as you can imagine, people always ask, how do I help? Well, if I can't go to Haiti or if I can't do this and I don't want to just write a check. You can volunteer with me here instead or you can also just come and eat. So, that's one fun way that I wanted to invite a lot of people into this vision. Second, important code, people catch the idea of all the profits. You know, the fact that my co-founder and I don't keep anything. But the second piece is actually just as important, if not more important, which is the employment peace. I think the second sustainability that I was really trying to crack was at this point, I was already volunteering for Five Ventures as a mentor.
Elizabeth: [00:15:22] Could you say what the Five Ventures is?
April: [00:15:24] For sure, yes. So at this point, I really was volunteering for the Five Ventures, which is an organization that helps men and women who are coming home from prison, start small businesses so that they can employ themselves, or at least have that kind of training to get a job.
Elizabeth: [00:15:40] Was the plan from day one to become plant based and the same with the employment?
April: [00:15:45] Yes, that's a good question. So going back, I want to start a business that would sustainably fund these organizations and then employ people who need a second chance. So, as a mentor for the Five Ventures I was helping people who are coming home from prison and having such a hard time getting jobs, to start their own small businesses or volunteering at a safe home for women who are survivors of trafficking. I just kept seeing the same thing, people just kept saying, I want a job, I want to be able to provide for myself. I can work so hard as a volunteer with their resume, with their mock interviews and all of that, but if someone is not willing to look past their past, then it almost felt like we couldn't really help them, you know. We felt this discouragement of like we couldn't get to that last point.
Elizabeth: [00:16:39] Right, they still have to get hired.
April: [00:16:41] Yeah, exactly. I think that to me, since I opened P.S. that's been the thing that's like, gosh, that was worth the pain. I started going down that rabbit hole because the same day I met Darian, I went to volunteer at Wallkill Prison.
Elizabeth: [00:17:01] Where's Wallkill prison?
April: [00:17:02] It's about two hours upstate. When I went in, I didn't realize that this guy Saron, who I personally hired when I met him at a Christmas party for the guy who came home just three weeks prior, came from that prison. They were like, he is the Steph Curry in that prison. Everyone loved him. Everyone admired him. They think he's such a good guy character. When the board chair announced to everybody, including me hearing this for the first time, this is the young lady who started P.S. and hired Saron, and now he works in Times Square. I had a few coworkers with me, and just to watch that moment, imagine, you know. My super senior woman M.D., with my analyst next to two guys that are in prison, all standing up and giving us a standing ovation. The warden was almost in tears, and she came up to me and held my hand. She said, “I just want to tell you that I love you. I know I don't really know you yet, but you don't see the impact that I get to see of these guys having the hope that they have, because they now know Saron works in Times Square.” As we're talking, having a conversation like this and you're seeing P.S. kitchen, often we don't actually talk about how it’s hard to imagine the two and a half years in which I doubted if I had made the right call.
Elizabeth: [00:18:30] About?
April: [00:18:32] About starting this place because it took so much longer than what we were told it was going to be. It costs so much more than what we thought it was going to cost. I have really wise people that care deeply about me who were really, really moved by the mission that said to me, “Are you sure you don't want to just pull out? I love that you had the idea, but maybe it's time to cut your losses short.” I appreciated all of that, and I definitely don't feel as if they weren’t trying to be supportive but just practicality. It was burning cash, you know. Literally. I was the only one that was even 30 years old when we signed this 15 year lease. Everyone else is in their 20s, so it was just a bunch of idealistic kids.
Elizabeth: [00:19:16] How long was it from the start of an idea, to the doors opening?
April: [00:19:22] You would be embarrassed for me. So we had the idea on April 10th of 2014, we started looking at spaces around July. Then in October, this was also crazy, I got married in October 2014. Then literally three months later we signed this 15 year lease. So like, welcome to marrying someone crazy. But he knew that going in!
Elizabeth: [00:19:48] I want to talk about him too, because he's a little crazy himself.
April: [00:19:52] Yes. Well, he had to buy into all this. He kind of had to be. So yeah, he then became my really sweet, amazing business partner. All of us were in our 20s and it was really scary to do this 15 year lease.
Elizabeth: [00:20:10] In Manhattan, right?
April: [00:20:11] In Times Square. But you know, again, I really think that where I was born was out of my control. The fact that I went to a good school for college, was out of my control. Just the fact that my mom even went to Hong Kong, it's out of her control. Then really, I think every dollar that I have, it's not mine. I really, really believe I'm just a store of God's money. So if that's the case, at the end of the day, if I really messed it up, I think I would not regret trying my best to do something that I know deep inside, clear conscience, I was just trying to help people. That's kind of just what I was able to hang on to. But that doesn't make the two and a half years that much easier. We ended up signing the lease February 2015, but we opened August 4th of 2017.
Elizabeth: [00:21:13] But you also renovated.
April: [00:21:15] We renovated the heck out of this place. When it's not always easy, you try to do something good for sure.
Elizabeth: [00:21:22] How many people work here?
April: [00:21:24] We had sixty seven people. But, of course, that's changed now with COVID.
Elizabeth: [00:21:29] Sure.
April: [00:21:29] Yeah, but we had sixty seven people.
Elizabeth: [00:21:32] That’s a lot of lives.
April: [00:21:33] Yeah, and that's so important to me. Not everyone though because we need people for training. We need professionals.
Elizabeth: [00:21:41] I would imagine most people haven't worked in restaurants before.
April: [00:21:45] Exactly, exactly. That's the beauty of people often asking me, “Why a restaurant?” This is definitely not to say starting a restaurant is easy at all, I give so much credit to my incredible staff. However, I was hoping that it would be something that maybe someone who has no experience, at least has an entry position, where I can do that.
Elizabeth: [00:22:08] What about the plant based part of it? How did that come about?
April: [00:22:11] Yeah, that's kind of funny. So I decided, OK, I'm going to start a business that gives away all the profit. Let's go. What business? I had no idea, I just felt strongly to start something that's sustainable, that would provide money and then jobs. I was simply thinking, restaurants bring people together. I have zero restaurant experience, nor do I know anybody that did, except for one friend who was really more of an acquaintance, to be honest. Actually, he was such an acquaintance that I had to guess his email and I sent three versions and hoped one of them was going to hit, and it did. I pitched him the idea and of course, he was like, “Oh my gosh, you're crazy”. He'd spend the first 40 minutes or so talking me out of it. Then when he realized it was not happening, he said, “OK. I will help you”. I would take him on as a consultant. Then he said, “But under one circumstance, it has to be vegan”. I was totally like, “Wait what, ok?”
Elizabeth: [00:23:19] Were you vegan at the time?
April: [00:23:20] Not at all, I had never really thought about it. But as I dug a bit deeper, I read all the books, watched all the documentaries. I remember specifically watching Forks Over Knives for the first time on a flight to Seattle from New York. When I finished it, I was so shocked that I rewound it and watched it all the way through twice, on the same flight. I thought, this is crazy stuff. By the time I landed, I was vegan.
Elizabeth: [00:23:53] Wow.
April: [00:23:54] So honestly, looking back, I love it. I am just so grateful that I can just live all of my compassion out.
Elizabeth: [00:24:10] Yeah.
April: [00:23:11] It's OK that I feel bad and I know some people who think it's crazy to feel bad for animals that are meant for food, but I do, and I want to do something about it.
Elizabeth: [00:24:18] And you are.
April: [00:23:11] Yeah and the environment. I just think for anybody who cares about justice, which a lot of people that come are, once they see how much climate change is truly a justice issue, then I think they will also want to do something about it. Having studied environmental engineering, having seen some of the impact of climate change, right? It's in the places that I care about, that I serve in.
Elizabeth: [00:24:51] That's who's going to be and who already has been hit the hardest and it's just going to get exponentially worse.
April: [00:24:57] Absolutely. The drought, starvation and everything that was happening to Haiti.
Elizabeth: [00:25:10] Yes.
April: [00:25:11] I think I know for sure not everyone can be vegan. Sometimes people would ask me, “Well, if you are a child in, let's say, Uganda and there's only a chicken farm, what can you do?”
Elizabeth: [00:25:26] Well, if you're a child in certain neighborhoods in the USA, you can't be vegan.
April: [00:25:30] Yes, totally.
Elizabeth: [00:25:33] Which is really disheartening and just disturbing. But I mean, there's a lot of neighborhoods where people can't afford to eat outside of their world that might just have a liquor store and some really crappy fast food.
April: [00:25:49] Totally. But in the same way that not everyone can afford to donate a certain percentage of their money, not everyone can afford to volunteer their time because they're working so much, etc. If you can, is this your generosity to the world and to all the people cannot, right? That's kind of our duty and our privilege. What is the max generosity that you can live out with your food choices, with your time, with your money choices? Yeah, it's all part of the cycle, for sure.
Elizabeth: [00:26:25] Ok, so speaking of generosity, will you tell the story of meeting Graham? Because when I heard some of it, I thought, OK, if two people were ever made for each other, this is one of those.
April: [00:26:39] Yeah, it's pretty funny. So at that point, I was already going to Haiti a lot. I actually was living in a two bedroom apartment with my roommate, but I had invited a single mom, who originally was from Haiti, and her two year old to live with me, in my bedroom. So I was already doing this kind of funky, you know, living situation. I would say, “It's OK, you guys are in between an apartment, just stay with me, live with me.” It ended up being a lot longer than we had expected. I was also trying to learn Creole at the time because I was bringing a kid from Haiti to have surgery in Boston, it was like a longer story. So as this was happening, I met this guy, Graham at a community group from my church. He didn't say anything the whole night. He was super quiet until I brought up this thing about generosity and this organization, Generous Giving. Then he’s like, “Wait, what? What is this?” He later on said he wanted to get coffee, which I kind of thought was more professionally related because, funnily enough, a colleague of his asked me for coffee literally, the week prior. This was completely professional, and I said, “Okay, great”, and thought he probably just wanted to have a similar talk. Turns out he had other ideas, but also that he was living in a way that was just as crazy. He had come home from Uganda a few months before he started working at Credit Suisse. He just had this idea of, what if I try to live off 10 percent of my income and give away the rest of it? Because he was just coming from Uganda, he also thought, I can start by trying to pay the same rent I paid in Uganda, in New York City. Which is what gets you a bunk bed and sharing a room with two other grown men.
Elizabeth: [00:28:34] So between you both you had two people sharing your bedroom.
April: [00:28:41] Yeah! I remember going to get this coffee, and he was just so simply bringing this up, kind of in passing. He didn’t even say, “Guess what, I'm doing!” It came off because he was saying how he met this homeless guy, Jeff, outside of Credit Suisse, and he just really befriended him and this really amazing story of, you know, being seen, right? Jeff sits outside of CS, he’s a super sweet guy who's homeless. He always had his neck all the way down, and he can’t look up because of so many years of, you know, just sitting out. Graham thought, maybe if I give him the cash to try to rent a room for two weeks and sleep on a bed, he can try to fix his neck. At this point, they've really built a friendship and it was really sweet. Jeff saw it and got really touched and then gave everything back to him and he said, Graham, your friendship has meant so much to me that I don't even want your money. I just want you to keep coming every day and spend the 20 minutes that you do with me.
Elizabeth: [00:29:51] So he wasn't at all thrown by the fact that you were basically doing almost the same thing?
April: [00:29:57] Oh no, he was worried, which was funny, that I was going to be turned off by the fact that he barely has any new clothes and he lives in a bunk bed.
Elizabeth: [00:30:07] Well a lot of 20 something year old women would.
April: [00:30:10] I said to him I work on Wall Street and little did he know I talked about him early on to the head of sales or senior people. They would ask me things about me caring like a little sister, I would say, “No, he is the real deal. He lives in a bunk bed”. So that's what he is known as, the bunk bed guy.
Elizabeth: [00:30:34] So the two of you, everything that you do has just expanded.
April: [00:30:37] Yeah and you know, we're learning. That was quite a way to start a new marriage. In the first two and a half years we had to build P.S. kitchen and you can imagine the stress. So it's helpful that we always have stories like that to look back on, we always knew that, that's why we want to build a life together. That's what gets us out of bed, that's what gets us excited. We also, funnily enough, have also had roommates almost our entire time of being married. Which is a bit unusual for a lot of bankers. But you know, that's another way for us. It’s not two people in our room anymore.
Elizabeth: [00:31:31] No, but in your apartment?
April: [00:31:32] Yes, in our apartment. You know, we've had people who couldn't pay at all, for whatever reason, and they live with us for free. Then we did almost like a gesture of rent. But they donate to causes we believe in, so we've tried all different ways. But just another way for us to try to be generous and be creative with how we can be generous. Although the last few months we have, finally for the first time, we thought we should really try to live on our own.
Elizabeth: [00:32:03] Wow.
April: [00:32:05] Which was a great move for us.
Elizabeth: [00:32:07] Well, and how's it been?
April: [00:32:09] I mean, it was perfect timing because it's been COVID. So, it was kind of crazy.
Elizabeth: [00:32:14] So up until COVID, this is another thing which is incredible about this restaurant, remembering you knew nothing about restaurants, every time I'm here, not during COVID obviously, it's packed and you can't get in. It's an enormous success and everyone I know raves about it.
April: [00:32:33] Thank you. So kind.
Elizabeth: [00:32:35] So congratulations for that. I mean, you must have expected it on some level or you wouldn't have done it in New York, because you can't really survive if your restaurant isn't a success in New York. But were you a little surprised at how the response has been?
April: [00:32:49] I was, to be honest, you would assume that I wouldn't be surprised, but don't forget the childlike hopefulness part of me.
Elizabeth: [00:32:59] Right.
April: [00:33:00] I think I just really believed in people's generosity, too. I think what's really unique about our restaurant is that our customers are like our advocates. I'm so grateful for that and I guess by nature it makes sense because you're usually here because you're plant based and you want to tell people about it, or you're passionate about criminal justice reform, or trafficking, or building schools in Congo.
Elizabeth: [00:33:29] This is all happening right here in P.S. kitchen. It's justice and compassion and that's what this place is.
April: [00:33:37] It's just that. Thank you. I think it's just that simple. I love that answer. It's all part of the justice and compassion answering story. There's no way we couldn't be vegan, you know. In the same way, there's no way we couldn't try to use employment to lift people up and to love them and to create a community, that's been really cool.
Elizabeth: [00:34:02] So, what's that been like too?
April: [00:34:03] Oh gosh, I can't even describe, it's just so, so sweet. During Covid, if I just tell you what happened from March to now, that also was already so worth the tears, that might have happened in those two and a half years. You know, from the time we had to close and sort of furlough people. We decided that, even though we have lost business pretty significantly as you can imagine by the time we closed, that we definitely want to pay people for that job, that paycheck and then for more as people have needs. So we sent out a text which said, “anybody who needs help, please don't be shy and reach out. We would Venmo you, we will do whatever”. As this funding was coming in, we sent out this text. “Whoever needs money let us know”. We started kind of individually checking in with some people and we actually got back more responses than you could ever imagine. People literally would say, “Oh, I'm good, I just got my unemployment, send it to so-and-so.”, “I'm good. Have you checked in with this person?” That's just one way of community that we've gone to see and experience and yeah, the staff are so much more than staff.
Elizabeth: [00:35:16] I love it. What an incredible place. As I said earlier in this, it is contagious, you are good energy. Everything that you do, I totally get it and I love it. So thank you, April.
April: [00:35:33] Oh, thank you.
Elizabeth: [00:35:42] To learn more about April and P.S.Kitchen or to eat at P.S. Kitchen, go to their website, ps-kitchen.com. We will have links to everything on our website, SpeciesUnite.com. If you have a minute and could do us a favor, please rate and review Species’ Unite on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, thank you. We're on Facebook and Instagram, @SpeciesUnite and if you'd like to support the podcast, we're on Patreon. It's Patreon.com/speciesunite. I would like to thank everybody at Species Unite, including Gary Knudsen, Natalie Martin, Caitlin Pearce, Amy Jones, Paul Healy and Anna Connor, who wrote and performed today's music. Thanks for listening! Have a wonderful day!
You can listen to our podcast via our website or you can subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or Google Play. If you enjoy listening to the Species Unite podcast, we’d love to hear from you! You can rate and review via Apple Podcast here. If you support our mission to change the narrative toward a world of co-existence, we would love for you to make a donation or become an official Species Unite member!
As always, thank you for tuning in - we truly believe that stories have the power to change the way the world treats animals and it’s a pleasure to have you with us on this.