August 15, 2021

Project Restore Us is now Project Restore Us, Inc., and we need your help to bring culturally appropriate and affordable groceries to food desert neighborhoods!

This past week, we incorporated as a 501(c)3, and in a couple hours yesterday, we sold 3,000 lb. of affordable grains and legumes in Dorchester and Mattapan farmers markets at ~$1 to $1.25 per lb. These goods were delivered directly to the markets from our partner packing factory in New York. Our mission is to make culturally appropriate foods like rice, beans, and eventually fresh vegetables available steps away from our low-income neighbors’ homes. We’ve shown that we can do this in a financially sustainable way, and we’ve seen the need: Costco is too far away, and corner stores often charge double wholesale prices. We need your help to bring the wholesale supply chain that we built over the last year directly to communities in need.

Until June 2021, Project Restore Us was 100% volunteer, and the support of MIT delta v start-up accelerator this past summer has allowed us explore this transition into providing high-quality groceries at Costco prices through farmers markets and affordable housing complexes.

Our volunteers have been crucial to this transition, and our operational sustainability will depend on paid staff and the flexibility to make deliveries to our pop-up market locations. Delivery services, and the food industry in general, is facing significant labor shortages. As a young operation without a warehouse or our own vehicles, we intend to stay lean and nimble to keep prices low. However, we need your financial support to pay for third-party delivery services, when the need arises, and salaried personnel to allow us to scale. Thank you for bringing us this far, and we are grateful for your support in the journey ahead.

Help Project Restore Us, Inc. grow

as we bring affordable and culturally appropriate groceries to food deserts!

Team Members