Model Chrissy Teigen and musician John Legend are a beloved celebrity power couple who have now found their way into the hearts of protesters with free macaroni and cheese.
Protesters have gathered across New York City for nearly a week over two separate grand jury decisions to not prosecute the police officers responsible for the deaths of unarmed men Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Teigen and Legend sponsored food trucks through #OperationHelporHush to feed protesters ahead of Sunday night’s demonstrations. The trucks were also used as a promotional move for the group on Sunday, as it offered free empanadas, tacos and macaroni and cheese to passersby who promised to follow the group on Twitter.
An estimated 3,000 people were fed from trucks stationed near Union Square in Manhattan, one of many sites for New York City protests.
#OperationHelporHush is a social media-based activism group that raises money to fund protesters’ supplies, including travel, shelter and food. The group also provides resources to sustain protesters for demonstrations like those in Ferguson, which have occurred intermittently for weeks, and to communities where protests are taking place.
The group started when #OperationHelporHush organizers set out to get $1,500 to provide sandwiches to protesters in Ferguson. It took an hour to meet the goal and the group soon had tens of thousands of dollars to support the protests. “As the money came in, we just pushed it into the streets,” one of the organizers, Charles Wade told the Washington Post.