What started small
Nearly 4,000 pounds in one drive.
Last year, restaurants, bars, studios, and neighbors filled truck beds with shelf-stable food. We delivered it across Austin instead of routing it through one distant destination.
Our story
GOOD FOOD SHOULD GO AROUND.
Give a Fork is an annual Austin food drive created by two friends who believe the restaurant community can do extraordinary good together.
Where it goes
Directly into the community.
Donations stock community puestos, free fridges, neighborhood pantries, and reach families who need food right now.
EST 2025
MEET THE ORGANIZERS
Natalia Lee
Natalia is the owner of Shine City Makers, where she builds bespoke artwork, furniture, and custom millwork for local bars, restaurants, and businesses all over Austin. She is passionate about food accessibility and launched a city-funded project that enabled her to build community puestos (dry pantries for food drop-offs) across Austin. Those puestos are just one of the ways Give a Fork distributes the donations we receive.
Rachel Daily
Rachel is one of the owners of Cure Studios, Austin’s sustainable and inclusive nail studio on East 5th Street. She has lived in East Austin for 16 years and is passionate about using her resources and spare time to organize people to volunteer in small ways, especially for folks who find volunteering overwhelming or don’t know where to begin. If everyone spent just 1% of their effort every day making their neighborhood better, it would add up massively over time.
The two friends met through a shared passion for the WNBA, a love of construction projects, and using their years of Austin connections to engage folks all over the city to help hungry neighbors in need.