CLEVELAND, Ohio — Karis Tzeng is the AsiaTown project manager for Midtown Cleveland. She said like many Cleveland neighborhoods, AsiaTown was gearing up for an eventful spring and summer season that all came to a halt when the coronavirus hit. 

What You Need To Know

  • For over a month now, midtown Cleveland has hosted “Feed “AsiaTown," a pop-up meal distribution

  • The organization partners with restaurants, give them a boost by buying 100 meals and then distributes those meals to those in need of food

  • Feed AsiaTown is funded through the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund

“We really were planning and dreaming a lot of community events, but honestly the pandemic has been kind of, in some ways, an opportunity that we've been able to connect with a lot more people.” Tzeng said. 

For over a month now midtown Cleveland has hosted “Feed “AsiaTown,  a pop up meal distribution. The organization partners with restaurants, gives them a boost by buying 100 meals, and then distributes those meals to those in need of food. 

“It’s all the different players in the neighborhood, getting to support some of our small businesses, the small businesses supporting our residents and even just residents. We've seen this program spread through word of mouth so residents tell other people, maybe pick up food for neighbors who are homebound," Tzeng said.

“I was just surprised how many people come out and get the free food. I didn't know they even know about it,” said AsiaTown resident Gina Smith.

Tzeng said AsiaTown residents view the effort as a community meal. 

“Even beyond just meeting the basic need of food, people know that they're sharing a hot meal with their neighbors—even if they're not physically eating together—they're able to still know that everybody's eating the same food,” Tzeng said.

She feels really lucky to be in this community. And during this pandemic, it's really nice to see this community care and community love.

AsiaTown is a hub for the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai communities. The neighborhood located just east of downtown Cleveland is home to over 40 Asian-owned businesses, businesses that midtown Cleveland’s AsiaTown community organizer Xinyuan Cui said have faced a great deal of hardship due to the pandemic. Cui adds that those challenges are magnified by anti-Asian coronavirus stigma, and barriers to resources.

“People stopped coming to AsiaTown businesses and grocery stores, and people see our face even and get scared. During the pandemic, the xenophobia and discrimination already being a challenge in many different ways. At the same (time in) AsiaTown, (there's) big immigrant community language barriers, and the need for food, adding more challenges to them. Sometimes they are not able to file other small business grants and also the workers that are not able to claim unemployment," Cui said.

Feed AsiaTown is funded through the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund. Cui said midtown Cleveland plans to hold the meal distributions until the fall and will continue to come up with ways to ensure the community stays connected and its businesses stay supported.

“As we're doing this work, we want people to see that there are people for them here. And want them to know. They are not isolated, they're not forgotten—we are saying that their needs are going to be met,” Cui said.

For more information on upcoming Feed AsiaTown events, click here.