Houston’s Southern Smoke Foundation Festival Reels in $1.5 Million to Help Restaurant Workers

James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd’s foundation is using the funding to help food and beverage workers around the country — and considering recent natural disasters, the money is arriving right on time

Houston-based nonprofit organization Southern Smoke Foundation raised $1.5 million in one weekend during its eighth annual Southern Smoke Festival held on Saturday, October 5, according to a release.

Helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd, the one-day food and wine event welcomed more than 70 chefs from around the country to Discovery Green, where they provided unlimited bites and food demonstrations in the name of charity.

Considered the foundation’s largest annual fundraising event, the Southern Smoke Festival helps raise money for emergency relief for restaurant workers around the country, much of which has been related to natural disasters. In 2024 alone, the foundation has granted well over $1 million to employees within the restaurant industry, and officials say the foundation is set to surpass and likely double the $1 million it awarded to food and restaurant workers in 2023. The foundation granted $327,000 to 369 food and beverage workers following the derecho that hit Houston in May and $452,000 to 578 beverage workers following Hurricane Beryl in July. It’s processing nearly 2,000 applications following Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 220 people after devastating areas in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

The demand for emergency relief will likely continue to increase, considering the increase in natural disasters nationwide. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last year that the United States experienced a record number of 28 extreme weather events in 2023, which cost the country at least $92.9 billion, the same year that the country recorded its warmest year yet.