Dear Feastlings,
It sometimes feels as though the universe is feeding us drama faster than we can chew it: I hesitate to step outside, to turn on the radio, to read the news, or, God forbid, to click on a link of any kind. Feast has felt like my own personal bastion of civility and kindness- our guests, by and large, treat us with grace and kindness, and people are mostly here to offer themselves a well-deserved treat or celebrate a milestone. Last week was a bumpy one, mind you- we’ve been busy with all the extra mouths that the Gem and Mineral Show attendees and exhibitors have brought with them for feeding, and grateful for it, but as of today, the security breach of our credit card processor has still got us fairly paralyzed.
I note here immediately that no one’s credit card information has been compromised, according to Bridgepay, who processes our credit card transactions when they’re able, so none of you has anything to worry about in that respect. I, on the other hand, have been sleeping rather more lightly as we continue since last Wednesday to go without reimbursement for a single credit card transaction. Evidently the FBI is still combing through their databanks, and until they’re good and finished, the thousands of small businesses across the nation who rely on Bridgepay for their credit card transactions are sitting on what amounts to imaginary money: futures, if you will, of their own past sales.
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of owning or running a small business, you may or may not know that just as there are people everywhere who find themselves living check to check, there’s no small number of businesses who do the same. I’m supremely grateful that Feast has over 24 years under its belt, and consequently has enough money squirreled away that we don’t yet have to worry about some sort of a safety net, but I can also tell you that payroll fell on the right week to keep us from panicking just yet. That said, today’s the sixth day we haven’t been paid, and if we get to the end of this pay period without a resolution, I’ll have bitten my nails down to the quick.
I mention all of this so that I may marvel to you all aloud as to how new small businesses do it. Post-pandemic Feast is not remotely like pre-pandemic Feast, and starting a business, or taking one over, in the past four or five years is a Herculean effort. My hat is off and my heart goes out to any of the thousands of businesses who find themselves in this predicament without the benefit of having had time to set up a backstop.
So while the universe continues not to spoon feed us drama but to shovel it, I also need to take moments here and there to remind myself that I still have reasons to be grateful. You lovely people have demonstrated consistently steady kindness toward us and toward the community- last Saturday, we were able to bring another 150 meals to GAP ministries, and you’ll be pleased to know I saw gratitude over there in spades, both from the volunteers and the recipients. Thank you for your contributions, and please know that we’ll continue to feed food-insecure folks as long as we possibly can.
There are a few other logistical oddities this week, so our Valentine’s Day menu has a few changes to it, based on what we suddenly weren’t able to get our hands on,
and our Saturday wine tasting will begin at 1:00 pm rather than 2:00 so that we can set the kitchen up for the special menu you can see at the link above.
We’ll still be making copious amounts of crawfish etouffee for Fat Tuesday, the 17th of February, so you’ll want to reserve a seat for that if you’re the sort who favors something rich and celebratory, and we’ll still be putting on a wine dinner with the kind folks at new-to-Arizona Copia Winery and Vineyards on the 25th.
We’ll be going back out to GAP ministries with food again once we’ve made it through Valentine’s Day, and while more contributions are welcome, enough of you have already donated a meal or many that we plan on heading out with another hundred to a hundred and fifty meals.
Thanks, the lot of you, for all your support, whether you’re supporting us or some other small business, or an individual who could use some help from someone as kind as you. We’re all grateful for you.
Love,
The people of Feast