Heart of Dinner’s mission

It was started back in 2020 by partners Yin Chang and Moonlynn Tsai out of their Lower East Side apartment. They started cooking and hand-delivering culturally appropriate meals for elders amid a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.

The couple jumped into action after watching a news story from February 2020.

“We saw video of an elderly gentleman in Oakland, California who was collecting bottles,” Heart of Dinner co-founder Chang said. “He was robbed of his cans and his bottles and you could see that he was having trouble communicating what he was trying to say and he broke down crying. We couldn’t help but recognize that kind of pain.”

At one point, they say they delivered up to 1,200 meals. The care packages are packed with nutritious ingredients in thoughtfully decorated bags and they come with hand-written notes in the recipient’s native language.

“Yin would be staying up all night writing, ‘We love you,’ ‘We’re thinking of you,'” Tsai said.

“It’s a feeling of being seen and also knowing that you don’t need to prove yourself. You just exist as you are and you’re so loved and so accepted,” Chang added.