About Us

Who We Are

Canal Cafeteria is a mutual aid group aimed at creating a more equitable food landscape by distributing fresh groceries to working class families and individuals in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. 

At Canal Cafeteria, we believe that through community organization, crowd funding and resource redistribution, we can disrupt the food apartheid that exists in our city. 

“Food justice includes not only providing equal access to healthy food, but also addressing structural inequalities in the food system and in the wider distribution of environmental benefits.” 

-Black, White & Green by Alison Hope Alkon

What We Do

Currently, Canal Cafeteria is hosting monthly grocery pickups to registered neighbors. We have shifted from a food line to a more thoughtful and tailored grocery experience with the goal of meeting more specific and personalized needs of each community member. Over the next year, we hope to shift to a delivery service and be able to obtain our own physical space to operate from. 

Disclaimer
Canal Cafeteria Grocery is a project of a New York C-corporation operating through a fiscal sponsorship with Players Philanthropy Fund, a Maryland charitable trust recognized by IRS as a tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal Tax ID: 27-66001178). Contributions to Canal Cafeteria Grocery are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.