Just a few months after Ed Mitzen, owner of Fingerpaint, and his wife, Lisa, bought Saratoga Springs’ beloved Bread Basket Bakery, transforming it into a nonprofit organization, with all of its profits going to local charities, the power couple is back in the philanthropic spotlight. On Monday, Feed Albany, a nonprofit that provides at-risk and in-need Capital Region residents with access to packaged and prepared meals, announced that the Mitzen Family Foundation had donated $250,000 to the organization, the charity’s largest since its inception in March 2020.
“The Mitzen family has seen the tremendous power of community, selflessness and empathy Feed Albany has embodied since its founding less than a year ago,” says Ed Mitzen. “We are proud to support this genuine, remarkable and volunteer-led endeavor as part of our philanthropic vision for our region.”
Feed Albany was founded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by Dominick Purnomo, co-owner and wine director of Albany restaurants Yono’s and dp An American Brasserie, and one of Saratoga Living‘s 2020 Capital Region Gives Back honorees. What started off as a grassroots, volunteer-led effort has, in the last 10 months, become a registered nonprofit, with two part-time employees, which has handed out (fittingly) more than 250,000 meals to out-of-work hospitality industry employees, essential workers and other people in need, as well as provided groceries to senior citizens and families across the Capital Region. “Words cannot accurately describe the emotions we’re feeling with this absolutely incredible donation from The Mitzen Family,” says Purnomo, who now serves at the president of Feed Albany’s board of directors. “As we near our one-year anniversary, this tremendous donation will allow us to greatly enhance our continuing efforts to provide meals, much-needed grocery items and essentials for those in-need and at-risk. The Mitzens’ generosity is seemingly limitless and we cannot thank them enough for this unbelievable sign of support.”
The generous donation was made on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, a holiday that has been designated a national day of service, to encourage Americans to volunteer in order to strengthen their communities.