RICHMOND, Va. -- A dinner in support of Richmond's Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community sold out of reservations Sunday night.
Vanna "V" Hem, Will Leung-Richardson, Daniel Harthausen, and Steve Yang prepared dishes paired with beer from Bingo Beer Co.
The dinner was organized to both show support for the AAPI community and raise money for the organization Stop AAPI Hate.
"Cooking and feeding your loved ones is our love language," Hem said. "A lot of us were raised by our grandmothers or mothers who cooked a lot of food for us. And that was their way of showing love. And that is our way of showing love back to the Asian community that we came from."
Click here to read a longer interview with Hem about how he wishes Richmond's restaurant industry would play a larger role in stopping Asian hate.
Philanthropists call for more grants to aid Asian Americans
Nearly 500 philanthropy leaders, mostly from foundations, signed a letter Friday calling on grant makers to increase their support of nonprofits that benefit Asian people and put efforts to combat anti-Asian racism squarely in the broader fight for racial justice.
The letter was circulated by Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, which also released a study outlining the paucity of philanthropic support for Asian American communities.
The letter and the study follow a year of increasing violence directed against Asian Americans and the killing of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta this month.
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