Sauces are kind of like sneakers: some people can't stop themselves from starting a collection. Maybe you're the collector. You have a dedicated shelf in the fridge, and each sauce tells a story about how you found it and what you pair it with. Or maybe you're a sauce monogamist, staying true to your brand whether it's on eggs or pizza or fried rice--nothing tastes as good without a dollop of that elixir. Either way, you've probably turned to your sauce bottles with a little more frequency in the last couple of months. Maybe you've noticed how much a good sauce can improve a bowl of rice and beans, salvage a slice of frozen pizza, or spice up popcorn. 

And maybe you noticed that a lot of your favorite sauces come from Oregon. 

It's no secret that Portland, Oregon is a food town. Chefs, food and beverage entrepreneurs, dining enthusiasts and home cooks enjoy the spoils of our city's locale and accessibility. Portland is also home to a thriving and supportive community of sauce makers: small business owners who trade in flavor and style. From fermented fruit hot sauces to smoked coffee chili oil, our sauces are seasonal, regional, global and all things in between. They are an expression of each and every maker, and celebrated locally, nationally and beyond.  

We're happy that our products have been helping you through the blandest moments of your quarantine, but we're also worried about our friends in food who have restaurants, bars, food carts and other businesses that have had to shutter with no clear idea of when and what reopening will look like. Sauce Aid is our way of showing our support for our friends in the restaurant industry, as well as vulnerable communities of color who have been historically underserved.

We wrote a song to show them how much we love and miss them: it's called "Pass The Sauce." When you download it, you're raising money for Family Meal, a local nonprofit raising money for foodservice and agriculture workers impacted by medical debt and COVID-19. And when you donate through this website, you're raising funds for The Black Food Sovereignty Coalition along with Black Futures Farm, a non-profit and community farm seeking to build food systems, place-making and economic development for Black and Brown communities in the Portland area.

Portland sauces won't save the world, but they can certainly save your quarantine meals. And now they're doing something for the community, too. So while we're waiting to see all our food friends again, let's help them out and Pass the Sauce.