Why we support Self Help, Inc.

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“I first heard about Self Help when I was working at another restaurant,” said Laura Crucet, owner of The Pig + Fig Café. “They helped one of my co-workers get into an apartment.”

At the time, Crucet’s co-worker made $12 an hour as a line cook. He was earning too much to get any help from the state, and yet there was no way he would be able to afford the deposit to get into an apartment. Self Help, Inc. paid the deposit so he could have a place to live.

Now that Crucet owns her own restaurant, she is giving back to the organization that has helped so many people.

At 6:00 p.m. on September 10th, The Pig + Fig Café will present a fundraising dinner to benefit Self Help, Inc. Each of the six courses will feature farm to table dishes paired with a stunning array of Rhone varietal wines from Crucet’s private collection.

Tickets are $95 per person and can be purchased on their Eventbrite Page. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heart-to-table-wine-dinner-a-fundraiser-for-self-help-inc-tickets-35576467171)

They will donate the 100% of profits of the dinner to Self Help. The local non-profit offers assistance to meet peoples’ basic needs. They will help a family pay for groceries, pay a utility bill, prevent an eviction for a family with young children, and provide emergency lodging for homeless people.

Crucet strongly believes that these services are especially important in Los Alamos. She said, “If you’re not an employee at the lab it’s hard to make ends meet here. If you make $40,000 a year, you won’t be able to make rent. There is a struggling middle class here.”

What does that struggling middle class look like?

• A new mom called Self Help when her husband left her. She didn’t know how she would manage with the new baby. Ellen Morris Bond, the Executive Director of Self Help, said, “We help people move forward when they have disruptions in their lives.”
• A single father didn’t have a car and so he had to transport his infant to daycare on the back of a bicycle every day so that he could work two separate restaurant jobs. Self Help provided him with a donated car, and paid for the tune up and the registration. They also bought a carton of diapers and other supplies.
• Someone wants to start a small business and they need some seed funding to get it started. Morris-Bond said, “We believe in helping people become self-reliant with small business grants and job training.”
• A newly divorced mom needed to start over. She has never been the breadwinner and now she needed to support herself and her children and find a place to live. Self Help provided practical guidance as she worked to reconfigure her life and emotional support as she dealt with her grief and stress.
• People often get an unexpected winter bill from the utility company and it throws their finances into a tailspin.
• A mom was about to complete her immigration when life got in the way. Self Help paid for her legal fees so that she could get her citizenship. This made it possible for her to sponsor her high school aged child to come from Mexico so they could be together.

“Self Help, Inc is honored to collaborate on fund raising events with Chef Laura at Pig and Fig,” said Morris-Bond. “Our last event with Chef Laura sold out quickly and received wonderful kudos for the menu and service. We are grateful to have strong community partnerships with a successful small business – Pig and Fig!”

The dinner will take place at The Pig + Fig restaurant located at 35 Rover Blvd Suite G

White Rock, NM 87544. Order tickets here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heart-to-table-wine-dinner-a-fundraiser-for-self-help-inc-tickets-35576467171).

Since 1969, Self Help has been providing emergency financial assistance for basic needs such as utility payments, housing costs, groceries and car repairs. The agency, a united Way Community Partner, also provides seed money to start small businesses/cottage industries in the endeavor to become self-reliant. The website is https://selfhelpla.org/. You can donate online.

The Pig + Fig serves breakfast, lunch, tapas, beer and wine. Visit their website www.pigandfigcafe.com to see their menus and to sign up for their newsletter.