Food Trucks that worked during Hurricane Sandy are being honored with the Vendy Award.
Fifty trucks that handed out an estimated of 500,000 meals, to Hurricane Sandy victims struggling to eat will be honored at the upcoming 9th annual Vendy Awards in Brooklyn, according to the New York Daily News.
Vendy's are NYC's premier street food showcase. According to the website, it's an intense cook-off between the best sidewalk chefs. The festivals honors all vendors and everything they provide.
Vendy's recognizes the smalls of things from a morning coffee to the $2 umbrella when someone gets caught in the rain.
The food trucks were "self-contained" and "self-sufficient." According to David Weber, president of the New York City Food Truck Association, the trucks were able to fill the void, left by restaurants that were struggling to open or reopen due to massive flooding, storm damage and power outages.
"It was a huge administrative undertaking," Weber said.
According to the Daily News the Vendy Awards is described as the brainchild of the Urban Justice Center, a long-time advocate for transient entrepreneurs.
"Vendors truly are the heart and soul of New York's communities," Sean Basinski Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, told the Daily News.
Weber said trucks were able to work with the city to get to place where help was needed the most.
"They're ready-made relief vehicles," Weber said.
Weber coordinated his vendors using Google spreadsheet, dispatching the remote to eateries to storm-torn parts of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, The Daily News reported. His group has 65 members, with roughly 500 more mobile eateries dotting the city, Weber said.
Christine Chebli only has her food truck for three months before Sandy hit. She told the Daily News she found herself in Staten Island handing out meals.
"We'd load up with as much food as possible and venture out to feed at least 500 people a day," Chebli, owner of Lebanese food truck. "These people didn't have power, so they couldn't cook a meal."
The Vendy is organized by the Street Vendor Project, a membership-based non-profit organization that stands up for vendors right.
