NYC chefs raised $76,000 to put a stop to the food industry's silence around anti-Asian hate crimes

• Restaurant owner Eric Sze organized the Enough is Enough initiative after the death of Vicha Ratanapakdee.
• The mission of their fundraising effort was to "promote unity and cross-cultural community building."
• The group's first fundraiser raised more than $76,000 for underserved communities in New York.

On January 30, Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old man, died as a result of a hate crime against Asian Americans.

About a week later, chef and 886 restaurant owner Eric Sze was surprised that well-known food industry workers hadn't yet spoken up about the man's death and the rise of attacks on Asian Americans happening across the country.

In 2020, crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities increased by 150%, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

Asian American restaurant workers have also detailed the harassment they've experienced while simultaneously trying to keep their businesses afloat in the pandemic.

Last year, Michelin-starred restaurant Jeju Noodle Bar was vandalized with racist graffiti. In March, Gothamist reported that Jason Wang, CEO of Xi'an Famous Foods, made the decision to close his restaurants early hoping to ensure his employees get home safe.

"When these things happen, it makes our employees feel uneasy to go to work," Wang told Gothamist. "Uneasy to take the train, uneasy to walk outside. And that's really a problem because people aren't able to live the way they usually live."

Sze decided it was time to speak out against the ongoing violence

Sze told Insider he was frustrated with the silence within the food industry. "People in the food business lean into Asian culture when they're making a buck, but now, when the Asian culture needs them, they were silent," he said.

"I felt very helpless because I'm just the owner of a 40-seat restaurant in the East Village, what can I do, you know? What can I bring to the table?" Sze added.

He said he knew his friends and colleagues were feeling the same sense of powerlessness and frustration, so he decided to act.

"I was like, 'F--- it, let's just all band together,'" he said. "Our voice matters no matter what, but if we're united we can make a bigger impact."

Sze sent an email to 23 of his New York City peers in the Asian American community of restaurant and business owners gathering them together to raise awareness for the hate crimes that continued to happen. They all answered the call.

Sze rallied his peers and formed the Enough is Enough initiative

Sze told Insider that the initiative's title was born out of a hashtag that his friend Sakura Yagi, who is the COO of T.I.C. Restaurant Group, saw on Instagram.

To start, Sze organized a fundraising effort with a mission to "promote unity and cross-cultural community building," according to the flyer shared on Instagram on February 12. The initial fundraising goal was set at $10,000. Twelve hours after the campaign went live on Givebutter, the initiative had raised more than $25,000.

Over the following weeks, donations kept coming in, totaling $76,737 by the fundraiser's close.

The team used the initial money raised to provide 2,500 meals to Heart of Dinner, Bowery Mission, and St. James Church collectively. They then decided to take the extra and write three $16,000 checks to Welcome to Chinatown, Apex for Youth, and Heart of Dinner - all organizations benefiting NYC's Asian American community.

Chefs Jae Lee and Jimmy Ly also felt a connection to the cause

Jimmy Ly, chef and owner of Madame Vo, said he wanted to join Sze's efforts to make a difference.

"Attacks on Asians - attacks on anybody are just wrong," Ly said. "It doesn't matter what nationality, what race, where you come from, it's just wrong to attack the elderly."

Ly told Insider that he comes from an immigrant family himself and wanted to use his platform as a restaurant owner to speak out against the ongoing violence.

Jae Lee, chef and owner of Nowon and another Enough is Enough member, said it felt like a necessity for him to join this initiative.

"Personally for me, I'm an immigrant," Lee, who moved to the US as an 8-year-old in 1997, told Insider. "Racism is not new to me. I faced it firsthand growing up here in New York as a kid that didn't speak English at all. To see senior citizens that reminded me of my grandpa and my grandma - it really hit a spot in me and I felt like I needed to be part of a good change."

Lee also clarified that the organizations this initiative supported weren't exclusively benefiting Asian Americans.

"We don't help based on color," Lee said. "We don't selectively just help Asian senior citizens or Asian groups, we want to make a positive change overall and make a positive difference."

Everyone who attached themselves and their business to Enough is Enough played a role in helping out, Lee said. Some cooked meals to be donated, some ran the delivery operations, and others lent their kitchens and spaces for different uses all helping the initiative meet and exceed the set goals.

Though this was the first fundraising event pulled together by the group, its members hope it's not the last.

Enough is Enough members say they want to do more

Sze, Ly, and Lee are all passionate about the Enough is Enough initiative. They're also all still running their own businesses during a pandemic.

Ly said he is waiting to see where Sze wants to lead the group next. Until then, he is "trying to make ends meet with COVID and with the restrictions." At the time of the interview, his team was working on a collaboration with the sustainable bag company BAGGU. Ly told Insider that proceeds from the merchandise collaboration - which dropped this month - will be donated to organizations benefiting the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

Lee is also waiting to see what else he can do, but he does believe more needs to be done.

"I don't think just raising money to do meals is enough," he said. "We need to pivot and we need to get together and figure out different ways where we can positively impact and raise more awareness to this topic."

While there's still a lot of work to be done to help the Asian American community, Sze ultimately accomplished his initial goal of getting food industry workers to speak up.

"Now, they're no longer silent," he said.