HAMPTON, Va. — All Hands Hot Sauce is locally grown, crafted, bottled and sold. However, the best part? The entire process involves the hands of local children.
Ali and Stephanie Afonja are husband and wife, but they are also cofounders of Family Restoration Services and the non-profit F.O.O.T. or Families Overcoming Obstacles Together. Their idea behind both these programs? Help children succeed. They have children come to them from all backgrounds, lifestyles, etc.
Ali tells 13News Now that he's an entrepreneur and wants to teach children how to be one. "They learn the importance of entrepreneurship, but also civic engagement, giving back to their communities," Ali nodded with pride.
All Hands Hot Sauce starts in the F.O.O.T. community garden in Hampton. Students learn how to plant, grow and harvest the produce for the hot sauce. Erin Snyder-Dixon is the garden manager, and she said watching these kids learn about agriculture is a fantastic thing to be a part of, "Our goal is for them to embrace the lifestyle and become more reliant and learn how to cook with what they grow and share it with others," she smiled.
After the children pick the produce, they learn how to turn their vegetables into a hot sauce. That's when Brittney and Javon Callier with "Pour and Stay Full" come in. They are the chef partners with Family Restoration Services. They teach a cooking class to the children twice a week, "They just feel like their cooking, but along the way, we can see growth and development over the two years we've been working with them," Brittney said. "It's been just amazing to see it all come to fruition," Javon added. These two bring the magic to the sauce, creating flavors like Flaming Mango and Flaming Pineapple.
Robyn Hicks, the Clinical Supervisor at Family Restoration Services, told 13News Now that this is more than just an education in agriculture. "This exposes them to the art of music and production and having fun and just engaging and bringing out all of their talents," she said. Yes, you read that right: the art of music and production, because these kids created a music video to market All Hands Hot Sauce.
After the music video, they took a step into sales, going door to door to sell their hard work. "They're tasting our success basically," said student Malachi Claiborne. Claiborne and another student, Elijah Williams, sat next to each other as they talked about their success and their favorite parts of the process. "It's all about kindness," said Williams.
They went on to talk about their favorite parts of the process, but both agreed, showing their community that they can do something big is the best. "People are like, 'Hmm, these kids are actually making moves, these kids are actually doing things to help their community,'" said Claiborne.
These kids are helping their community because 50% of the sales go to a non-profit of their choice. The other 50% goes straight into the student's pocket. "Not every child is going to go to college," started Stephanie Afonja. "All of them don't have post-secondary goals to earn money as such, so the opportunity to earn money and learn how to earn money in other ways is something we think is very important for our young people," she said.
So, when buying All Hands Hot Sauce, you're supporting local, and you're supporting local children and furthering their education into adulthood. To purchase the hot sauce, you can visit their website.