GMA Surprises Houston Restaurant Workers with Disaster Relief Funds

This morning, Dandelion Cafe owner Sarah Lieberman appeared on GMA to share how Hurricane Beryl and the resulting power outages affected the city's food community. Southern Smoke Foundation joined the morning show to surprise Lieberman's employees with $4,800 in disaster relief funds. CashApp also surprised the all-day cafe, which has a second location on the Rice campus, with a $10,000 donation.

As Houston is painfully aware, more than 2.2 million people lost power after Beryl whipped through the area, and restaurants paid a particularly high price in lost food and revenue. Lieberman estimates that around $50,000 worth of food, including staples like milk and eggs, had to be thrown out. Upon the power being restored, she and her team spent two days cleaning, restocking and prepping before reopening July 17 with a limited menu.

“Not only did we lose revenue and stock, but our employees suffered from the lack of work,” she said. “Some of these employees have been with us since I opened the cafe in 2016. We can only try to recoup some of this loss through the generosity and support of our community and customers.”

Six employees of Dandelion Cafe received individual relief funds from Houston-based Southern Smoke Foundation. Per a release, the group visited with additional interested staff members about the application process following the GMA appearance. Since Beryl, SSF has received more than 800 applications for financial assistance from food and beverage workers in crisis.