The World’s First Masks for Meals Movement
+160
Meals Provided
+487
Masks Ordered
+$2,229
Total Profit
+169
86C19 Subscribers
+45
Local Restaurants
86C19 MASKS HAVE A PURPOSE…
It’s simple, when you purchase mask(s) and join the 86C19 Movement, you’ll nominate a locally-owned restaurant to support, and you’ll be helping provide meal relief to locals in our industry and networks. Every time the 86C19 Movement achieves profit goals of $500, we randomly select one of the nominated restaurants and support them by purchasing meals for our 86C19 industry networks.
• to Help People in Need with Meals
• to Support Local Restaurants
• to Promote Mask Awareness
• to Slow The Spread
• to Reduce Waste & Landfill
• to Get Back to Normal ASAP
SEVERAL INDUSTRIES IMPACTED
Thousands of people in dozens of industries have been furloughed, underemployed, or fully unemployed due to the pandemic. 86C19 is a movement we started in September 2020 in San Jose to provide some meal relief to our subscribers and industry networks, by sourcing delicious meals from locally-owned restaurants with 100% profit of our mask sales. We are the World’s first Masks-for-Meals program.
COVID-19 HIT THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY HARD.
Restaurants have closed and others have struggled to stay open while doing the most they can, with the very little they have. Covid-19 has also affected the core of what makes a restaurant great, the people. Everyone from the back-of-the-house to the front, from the owners to the wine reps and everyone else in between has been effected. The 86C19 Movement does not stop at the restaurant industry, this is a movement to help all struggling industries and their people. We are Stronger Together. The goal of 86C19 is to support locally-owned restaurants and people in need.
HOW 86C19 WORKS
Each person who JOINS THE MOVEMENT will nominate a locally owned restaurant they want to support.
Every $500 profit raised, the 86C19 Movement will randomly select a nominated restaurant and provide support to that restaurant by purchasing meals for our subscribers and industry networks.
The 86C19 Movement will be emailing free meal opportunities to those who SUBSCRIBE and will be sharing the giving and support on social platforms.
100% of Profits have and will be distributed to locally-owned restaurants.
OUR FIRST PROFIT GOAL TO PROVIDE MEALS
Two weeks after we launched 86C19, we achieved our first profit goal, allowing us to provide delicious meals to 30-people from Capers Eat and Drink in Campbell.
Watch our video as we prep our first drawing for which restaurant to be the first to support via 86C19 and provide meals for those in need. After some prep, our lovely assistant helped us by randomly drawing a number, and she chose number 1. Our very first nominated restaurant was Capers Eat & Drink, made by Gayle G. in Campbell.
We selected Wednesday, Sept 16, 2020, as the day to give, and those who sign-up had a choice of Capers Signature Meatloaf, Fresh Dip, Chinese Chicken Salad, or Veggie Stir Fry. 86C19 is all about giving and spreading the goodness.
For those who haven’t yet joined the 86C19 movement, we encourage you to ORDER SOME MASKS and help us continue providing meals to people in need WHILE supporting locally-owned restaurants and promoting the importance of Mask Awareness.
First Drawing –
OUR SECOND MEAL RELIEF PROGRAM
On Oct 8th we launched our second FREE MEAL sign-up thanks to 100% profit of our 86C19 Mask sales. It feels really good to do something meaningful that gives delicious food to people in our community, while helping local businesses in need, double while putting more smart masks on people’s faces, overall helping Slow The Spread and 86 Covid-19 from our lives.
You can watch the video to see who was selected, but this time we selected The Table (who has 7 nominations total) in Willow Glen.
What really floored us was when we told the owners of The Table that we randomly selected their name to receive $500 from 86C19’s Movement, they offered to over double our giving power. Offering up to $40 value to the first 30-subscribers that sign-up. When that happened, all I could hear was Huey Lewis and the News ‘That’s the Power of Love’ blasting in my head.
The offer was tremendous. It was an ‘order what you want’ from the Dinner and Cocktail menus for UP TO $40max, food and drink required. If the person ordered more that $40, the person would pay the difference. It was also convenient that those who signed-up could select a pick-up date that worked for them from Monday-Thursday. It was effective, thoughtful, and the 30-spots filled up quickly.
This level of giving is spectacular. If you want to be part of this type of movement and giving, order some 86C19 Masks and nominate your favorite restaurant.
Second Drawing –
GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING
We’ve been working hard to keep things active, and it’s been a fun journey so far.
When we registered 86C19.com early pandemic, we had no idea what to do with it, but knew what it symbolized. 86 Covid-19. Now, the level of giving and support 86C19 has generated is beyond what we expected, and it’s only been a little under two months….and mainly just in Silicon Valley so far…but with restaurants nominated in Sonoma, So Cal, and Fresno. Can’t wait to see how far it goes.
And as much as we love it, we also hope we don’t need to promote mask awareness or have so many folks outta work for much longer…..but until we can get back to ‘more normal’, we will continue to 86C19 as best as we can.
Thanks for the support on this and please continue to wash your hands, social distance, and Wear a Mask.
ANOTHER FUN MILESTONE & MORE MEAL RELIEF
In total, we’ve received 60 total nominations for 33 different restaurants. For our third drawing, we removed the nominations for the first two restaurants 86C19 selected (Capers and The Table) leaving us with 51 total nominations for 31 different restaurants remaining to choose from.
So to make things totally fair and even-Steven, we made 51 tickets, put the tickets in a hat, and had my 8yr old daughter randomly select a ticket, giving us the name of our next nominated restaurant to support and ideally participate with our meal relief program.
After all of the double-checking and preparations, Taplands in Santa Clara was selected! So after a couple of quick meetings, Matt (owner of Taplands) was excited to participate and help spread the goodness.
Between Nov 28th and Dec 5th, 2020, Taplands provided forty panini and beverage combos to 86C19 subscribers. Through the sales of our cozy 86C19 masks, and nominations for locally owned businesses from those who bought masks, we’ve been able to support three locally-owned restaurants and bars, and Taplands is the third. The 86C19 Movement is working.
With all that said, our 86C19 Meal Relief program has still hit another great milestone. We’ve now provided one-hundred meals and we continue to move through this pandemic together with mask awareness, consideration, and giving.
Third Drawing –
OVERVIEW OF HOW THE 86C19 MOVEMENT IS DOING
Since Sept 2020 we’ve raised a little less than two thousand dollars in profit by selling cozy masks. So far the 86C19 Movement has; directly supported three locally-owned restaurants with $500 cash each, joined the fight against meal insecurities by so far providing one-hundred meals to those in the hospitality industry (and the industry’s family tree that consists of beauticians, musicians, entertainers, nightlife, hoteliers and more), led by example and effectively put almost four hundred comfy washable masks on faces in Silicon Valley, and has done it all thanks to the over fifty generous givers and believers in the 86C19 Movement….and we keep pressing onward.
News: The need for mask awareness and encouraging people to wear a mask, and properly, is still at an all time high, especially in our heavily populated Silicon Valley. During the month of December 2020 and most of January 2021, our county (Santa Clara County) was on full lock-down, and several businesses were closed or reduced to limited hours and offerings, and during this time, the need for both wearing masks and meal relief were through the roof. This is why the 86C19 Movement lives, and why we can’t and won’t stop until this pandemic is over.
We, and everyone in the 86C19 Movement, are doing our best to keep the mask awareness and food insecurities conversations alive, because we understand that knowledge is power. When 86C19 masks are on faces, not only do we know that meals are being provided to those in need, we also know that mask awareness is being supported by courteous members of our community. Wearing a mask is not about fear, it’s about being safe rather than sorry. Its about showing respect for the community during this almost 1-year old pandemic. It’s about understanding that the sooner more folks take mask wearing seriously, the sooner we can remove the masks from our faces all together. It’s a means to the end, and the 86C19 Movement is leveraging the opportunity as the World’s first Masks for Meals Movement.
We’re also proud to have put almost four hundred Earth friendly, washable, made in the USA, and super cozy masks to use in our community. The idea that those who join the 86C19 Movement are being eco-friendly by avoiding disposable masks, makes our entire cause that much better. As we’ve known, disposable masks are ending up littered in places they shouldn’t and in some cases killing wildlife. It makes us happy to know that 86C19 masks are sustainable and aren’t adding to the problems that surround disposable masks.
Updates: As you may know, the 86C19 Movement works when we people Join the cause, and we could use as many folks to join us as possible. Over the last few weeks we’ve received some great feedback from the community, started to investigate and learn from similar meal relief programs like ours, and are making small pivot moves to improve on how we can raise more money for meals.
For example: We’ve started looking into becoming a legit 501c3 non-profit, and even though it could take several months and thousands of dollars to complete, slowly but surely we’re heading that direction. We’ve connected with a new local printshop allowing us to lower our costs for the same product, and add 86C19 shirts as an order option. We’ve also started to accept direct donations for those who want to help buy meals, but have enough masks. Its currently set-up on Venmo @carlfoisy or PayPal.me/carlfoisy .
As we continue on with our mission, and use 86C19 to generate goodness on so many levels, we can only encourage you to join and share the 86C19 Movement so we can continue to support local businesses, our environment, and the people in our community.
OUR 86C19 MOVEMENT CONTRIBUTED TO FEED TEXAS FUND RAISER
In April 2021, here in sunny Northern California, we were watching the news and seeing all of the madness happening in Texas due to horrible weather conditions (and poorly managed power infrastructure) when locally owned Enoteca La Storia stepped up and led by example by starting a thoughtful fundraiser to help provide meals for Texans in need.
When we at 86C19 caught wind of this ’do-gooder’ fundraiser, we knew we could and should do more than just cheer them on from the sidelines. So we made a cash donation with some of the profit we’ve generated by selling masks, giving them a nice boost in their money-raising efforts.
In ELS’s recent social media post, they say ‘Communities helping communities, that’s what it’s all about’…and we agree whole-heartedly.
FOURTH MEAL RELIEF AT FARMERS UNION
When we started our Masks for Meals movement, our goals were to support local restaurants by purchasing meals for folks in industries negatively impacted by the unexpected pandemic…and we were gonna do it all by selling masks. We figured that if people were going to be required to wear masks, we’d sell masks cheap, and use the profits to buy meals for folks in our community, from locally owned businesses in our community. And little by little we’re achieving our goals.
In late March 2021 our county moved into a less restrictive tier, allowing restaurants to reopen for larger indoor dining capacities. And as this is a great sign for local businesses, staff and guests are still required to wear masks when indoors and when deemed appropriate. And since mask requirements aren’t going anywhere soon, we forged marvelous deal with our local printer, and began selling branded masks in bulk to businesses at a ridiculously low price.
With the addition of selling shirts, bulk orders and receiving more generous donations, we achieved our 4th profit goal and randomly selected The Farmers Union for another meal relief program. With the money raised, we were able to purchase 30-meals from The Farmers Union which folks signed-up for and enjoyed between March 29th – April 3rd….and with the continued support, the giving continues!
Fourth Drawing –
BUILDING A BETTER BAY AREA FEATURE ON ABC 7 BAY AREA NEWS
On Monday, April 5th, we received a call from Amanda del Castillo with ABC7 Bay Area, who was tipped off by San Jose Downtown Association’s Rick Jensen, about featuring our 86C19 Movement during their ‘Building a Better Bay Area’ segment later that night….and we happily accepted. Not only was this the first time a major media outlet recognized what we’re doing, but it was super humbling to hear that our local Downtown Association was in full support too. So much awesomeness and connectivity.
Carl spent about 20-minutes talking to ABC7’s Amanda del Castillo about our goals and mission in the comfort of his garage, which eventually turned into a solid 2-minute segment. When it was airing, and after Dan Ashley introduce the topic, we experienced some nice support by way of personal text messages and even a few new orders and supporters. All in all, it was very nice to have our 86C19 movement get a few moments in the spotlight, especially in the Building a Better Bay Area category.
MORE MEAL RELIEF WITH BELCAMPO
Giving is a wonderful thing. It shows that we care, shows others how it can be done, and hopefully inspires others to follow suit, AND the new Belcampo Hillsdale in San Mateo is leading by example.
When the powers-that-be at Belcampo heard about 86C19 they instantly wanted to participate with the giving, and graciously donated $500 in meals ($50 in food and drinks to the first 10-people to sign-up) and needless to say, in less than two hours all 10-spots were claimed. The giving continued between May 26-28th when those 86C19 subscribers who signed up, received a wonderful meal and full service dining experience, all thanks to Belcampo’s team of caring and giving people.
To everyone at Belcampo Hillsdale, we at 86C19 thank you for supporting and participating with our acts of giving, AND you should also know that the underemployed and unemployed folks in our community, industry, and industry adjacent, who signed-up are also super gracious and thankful. Bravo Belcampo…Bravo indeed!
SV STRONG HEROES RECOGNIZED BY THE CITY OF SAN JOSE
With regulations fluctuating slightly, restaurants back to being busy for the last several months, folks being courteous with masking, and public activities being respectful and cautious, it’s clear that our community is doing something right.
Our 86C19 Masks for Meals program has been running for over a year, and we couldn’t be more proud of the community participation, and the work and passion we put into the movement.
When we set out to make 86C19 something that could benefit folks in the industry we grew-up in and love, we didn’t do it for the recognition or fame. We’re pretty fortunate to know some cool people around town, and without their support, 86C19 wouldn’t be what is has been. Indeed a team effort.
We recently learned about a cool recognition article published months ago on the City of San Jose’s website , that dubbed 86C19 as a Silicon Valley Hero initiative, which was a nice surprise to us. We don’t feel like we’ve done anything heroic, but we do love the fact that our wonderful city, the 10th largest in the nation and 3rd largest in California, caught-wind of our efforts enough to give 86C19 a spotlight feature. Our hearts are delighted.
As need for meal relief in the industries we set out to support has changed, we realized that we could be continuing our efforts promoting mask awareness, and the basics of distancing and hand washing, especially in our heavily populated community….because these are the steps in which we will 86C19 together.
We love San Jose and the Silicon Valley community. 86C19 will always be by the people, for the people.
THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IS HIRING
From the moment we started 86C19, we’ve been all about supporting the restaurant industry. Our goals to support locally-owned restaurants with funds, and to help local restaurant industry folks with meals, have been achieved. At this time, the 86C19 Movement has changed focus from providing meal relief to promoting both Mask Awareness and the restaurant industry’s next hurdle, staffing. With so many people stuck in the pandemic rut, we created this video in hopes to stoke their internal fires. We understand some folks are still hesitant, but with the safety standards and guidelines being followed, a hospitality gig is pretty darn safe. Plus, in our Greater Silicon Valley, restaurant guests have become very considerate and more thoughtful over this second year of the pandemic, which is refreshing to hear and see in our community.
The 86C19 Movement is still alive and well, and we encourage everyone to get back to work and help rebuild the local business community together.
