Trumin Nguyen grew up hearing a saying in Vietnam: “lรก lร nh ฤรนm lรก rรกch,” or “the intact leaf wraps the torn leaf.”
He always took it to heart, understanding it to mean that the more fortunate should help the less fortunate.
“You do what you can until you cannot anymore,” he said.
Nguyen, the owner of noodle restaurant Buba Kitchen, has a history of providing free meals to people in times of struggle, starting by donating meals to hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the government shutdown persisted into November, delaying food assistance to people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Nguyen decided again to become the intact leaf that wraps the torn one.
As many as 76,000 Granite Staters have been affected by disruptions to SNAP, which provides on average $6 a day in food assistance to enrolees. About 7.8% of Concord residents receive SNAP benefits, according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
In response, Buba Kitchen has provided free chicken noodle soup and chicken fried rice to anyone who comes to its Concord or Manchester locations and shows their benefits card. Nguyen said Buba Kitchen has been able to give over 300 meals since the initiative started last Saturday.
“The whole goal is, if we can have somebody out there not stay hungry, that will be great, even one person at a time,” he said.
A pay-it-forward program to support Buba Kitchen in offering free meals to SNAP recipients has raised about $200 so far.
Down the road in Eagle Square, small-batch bakery Table implemented a similar system. Owner Chelsea Annett launched a community gift card that anyone can use to cover their purchase, no questions asked. Community members have donated over $2,000 to the card.
Annett said no one has come to use the gift card yet. She believes people who need help may not be aware of the program or don’t want to spend money on a “sweet treat” they may see as uneccessary.
“If you’re in need, I think that there’s a lot of shame that comes with that, and I just want people to feel like they can come in and be cared for and not be questioned,” she said.
Conquered Bread, a micro-bakery run by Alex Brown out of his Laurel Street home, has donated loaves of bread to local food pantries through a buy-one-give-one special: Brown gives one loaf away for every loaf bought. He is also donating 75% of the proceeds to New Hampshire Hunger Solutions.
When he announced the special on Monday, customers bought 12 loaves in 20 minutes.
“I feel like I’m presenting people with an opportunity to feel like they’re contributing something, and I think that makes people feel good, and so that makes me feel good,” Brown said.
Brown found the Concord community’s generosity “striking.” He also expressed feeling that the federal government is withholding resources that could help many more people than local businesses are able to.
“I’m glad that I’m able to do it, but I also think it’s sort of crazy that we live in a resource-rich country and our most vulnerable community members are relying on small businesses,” he said.
603-Bar-B-Q, which Concord native Ben Normandeau opened two years ago on Hall Street, tends to run out of food pretty quickly during its Thursday to Sunday business hours. Still wanting to make an impact, Normandeau decided to hold a food drive to help support hunger relief in the capital region.
He said 603-Bar-B-Q collected 175 pounds of rice, pancake mix, soups and other canned and boxed goods on Wednesday, all of which were donated to Christ the King Food Pantry.
“Our customers are the best, I say that all the time,” Normandeau said. “It filled up very fast, which is awesome.”
Since Trumin Nguyen opened Buba Noodle Bar in Manchester in 2019 โ and then Buba Kitchen in Concord in 2023 โ he’s found any opportunity to provide free food to those who may need it. He’s stepped up to help the unhoused, needy families during Christmas time and health care workers during the pandemic.
He said he’s personally delivered the food whenever he could.
Thinking back to his time in Vietnam, Nguyen lived in an area prone to flooding and storms that often wiped away rice from the fields. He said a bag of ramen noodles meant everything to him back then.
“We grew up struggling,” Nguyen said. “I arrived here with zero dollars and no English. We know the feeling of being hungry.”
He embraces the opportunity to uplift people whose experiences he’s shared before.
“Now, I’m in the position to help those less fortunate, and we are happy to do that.”
