Stevenson alumnus raised $120,000 in donations through his restaurant to prepare and deliver thousands of meals in March 2020 to 30 hospitals, shelters, and clinics in New York City

Mrs. Rosalind Kahn established the Samuel Kahn Award in 1964 to honor her husband, an engineer and former owner of San Francisco’s Market Street Railway Company. Annually, the award identifies a member of the 10th Reunion Class whose actions embody the values that Stevenson has taught since its founding: to do one’s best, to pursue one’s passion, and to serve others. Stevenson is thrilled to share that this year’s award is presented to Andy Chuang ’13 for pursuing his culinary passion, and for his extraordinary efforts in feeding thousands of meals to health care workers in New York City during the pandemic.

Andy relates that he created a home away from home at Stevenson through the culture of food. He was a member of the China/Hong Kong/Taiwan Club, a group of boarding students with homesick stomachs who gathered frequently on campus to cook and enjoy authentic Asian cuisine. After graduating from NYU, Andy lamented the scarcity of proper Taiwanese food in New York City that he craved. Seeing an opportunity, he reached out to his friend Eric Sze, a fellow NYU grad and restaurateur, and together they opened a restaurant, 886, on St. Marks Place near NYU in 2018. “We wanted to create a restaurant and hangout spot that highlighted real Taiwanese food and culture. That’s how we got our start.” Named after Taiwan’s international country code, the establishment serves a sought-after fusion of Taiwanese comfort food with an NYC flourish and has been featured in reviews by The New Yorker, Forbes, Michelin Guide, and the New York Times. Since opening 886, Andy and Eric have continued to build a portfolio of Taiwanese food hot spots, opening a second restaurant, WenWen, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 2022. Both are beloved local hubs for the best in Taiwanese food, hospitality, and culture.

During the height of the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020, as NYC shuttered and workers and customers were forced to stay home, Andy was in a bind. He recalls, “We were scared, so we shut down two or three days before the official New York City mandate. At that time, if you remember, the city was only expecting a two-week shutdown, but the people who were affected the most with zero income were our kitchen guys. We were their only source of income. If we don’t do anything, they have nothing.”

He puzzled over a solution until close friends encouraged him to think of 886 as an essential business, suggesting he pivot to delivery and takeout to keep the restaurant open and workers on the job. Reflecting, Andy shares, “I give my friends a lot of credit for coming up with this idea and keeping us going.” After pitching the idea to his business partner, they began preparing $10 bento boxes for delivery or takeout from a set menu, and then shared the message on Instagram. The orders started pouring in. “At the time, we didn’t have a car, so I was using my electric scooter to deliver everything for over a week, and we used the proceeds to pay our kitchen staff.” Then, an auspicious encounter with two consecutive customers changed Andy’s entire trajectory.

“We had a customer who saw that we were supporting our kitchen staff and he said, ‘Here’s $100 for ten meals. Give it to people who need it the most.’ And it just so happens that a doctor friend came in at that same time to pick up her meals, and I told her, ‘Hey, we have these extra meals. Do you want them?’” Because of NYC quarantine measures at the time, health care workers were not allowed to leave hospitals during shifts and had almost zero time to make food, so his doctor friend happily took the meals to the hospital. Not thinking much of it, Andy posted the donation to Instagram, saying that they were sending extra meals to the hospital. Almost instantly, donations started pouring in—from every corner of the world. Andy remembers his surprise. “Two days later we had received probably $20,000 in donations. It was a shock.”

He went back to his doctor friend and told her about the donations, and she called her friends in different hospitals to give him their contact info. He entered them in the system to create prepackaged meals, which he then drove out for delivery straight to the hospitals in a friend’s borrowed car because Andy didn’t own one. At a time when people were actively avoiding hospitals at all costs, Andy Chuang was driving to hospitals all over New York City for two and a half months. “By the end,” he surmised, “we raised over $120,000 in donations, and we provided over 12,000 meals to over 30 local hospitals, shelters, and clinics.”

Throughout the uncertainty and doom of the early pandemic, there is one point that Andy continually stressed about that time in New York City. “I like to remind people that even though that was probably one of the darkest and bleakest times we will ever experience, the simple kindness and compassion of people came to the surface a lot. It’s easy to forget that.”

There was none kinder in this regard than Andy Chuang. Kindling his passion for food into a business, selflessly supporting his employees in a time of need, and, ultimately, feeding thousands in New York City’s health care community during a time of unprecedented fear and crisis…his actions truly capture the spirit of the Samuel Kahn Award. The School is grateful for his acts of service to his employees and to his NYC community, and to be able recognize an alumnus whose entrepreneurship, bravery, and kindness has touched so many lives.