Background

We are grateful for Curryblossom’s role as a community gathering place and a refuge. We’ve been reflecting on how to best honor what we’re hearing from hard-working public health workers and the scientific community about the important role of restaurants in containing the further spread of COVID-19.

Donate Today

Thanks so much for giving as much as you are able to help sustain Vimala’s Curryblossom Café in this moment of public health crisis. We are committed to supporting our whole team of brilliant, loving, hardworking team of workers and keeping Curryblossom’s doors from closing in the economic crunch ahead. If we are able to raise $10,000 a week for these next several weeks of collective emergency, we will be able to cover payroll costs to take care of workers and their households. Any proceeds we raise in this online fundraiser that go beyond what is required to meet Curryblossom’s basic needs, we will readily pass on to other family-owned restaurants with food justice values.

What else can you do to support Curryblossom?

Savor a meal. We’ve been encouraging takeouts as we wind down in-house dining. Today we are moving forward with curbside pick-up/takeout only, and we’re continuing to do so with impeccable attention to health and safety standards. We are only serving meals in single use containers. Please don’t hesitate to call in an order, pay over the phone, arrive at the curb, and call us again– 919-929-3833. Maximum social spaciousness guaranteed.

Write to the Governor. Today we signed a letter alongside Triangle area restaurant industry small businesses to Governor Roy Cooper requesting state support in this time of need. The requests are:

Support immediate unemployment benefits for all hourly and salaried workers furloughed during this crisis
Eliminate payroll tax for the period of the crisis and the pay-cycles immediately following
Call for rent, loan, and utility abatement for businesses and workers impacted by restaurant and bar closures

Please echo these requests in your letter and add your personal story about why this matters to you.

Alongside this fundraiser:

We are continuing our practice of paid sick leave for workers. We are providing fresh fruits, vegetables, wellness herbs, and medical expenses for workers on an emergent basis. We are working on developing a longer-term plan for how to cover base pay for workers if we get to a time of shutdown and no income (and we welcome strategy-sharing conversations with other small businesses– we’re all in this web of interdependence together).