We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jay Jay Wolf . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jay Jay below.
Hi Jay Jay , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
My grandparents were all Holocaust survivors. Their amazing resilience and determination didn’t start and end with their personal struggle to stay alive through and after the Nazi extermination. They lived a life of constantly helping others no matter how fallen or broken. Every person needed to be treated with love and respect.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I grew up in Melbourne, Australia.. Coming from a family of Holocaust survivors I always had a special love and bond for Israel. From early childhood I was always determined to do my part in protecting a country that was founded as a place of refuge for any Jew. My grandparents had watched most of their siblings, parents and friends killed by Nazis and I had to do my part in protecting what they all died for: Judaism and a Jewish state would enable that.
Soooo after high school I traveled to Israel and joined the army there for a number of years..
After serving in the IDF I moved to the USA. For many years I was manufacturing clothing for chain stores around the country, but my passion was always baking and cooking.
I truly missed the Australian fun cuisine that I had grown up with. The iconic Australian hand held food most treasured by every aussie is the handheld meat pie and so my company Aussie Pies and Sausages was born, I was baking meat pies, sausage rolls and all the foods Australians and New Zealand expats miss.
It’s incredible that in the USA, a country’ which has every kind of cuisine in a mass way, Australian foods were impossible to find.
Through social media and our website I built a company that now serves dozens of different uniquely Australian iconic foods and ship around the USA.
It brings me the greatest satisfaction to see my pies being enjoyed in every state of this country.
Being located in the Skid Row area, I’ve been surrounded by homelessness to a degree most people in the modern world will never see. Thousands upon thousands of Americans living on the streets, many mentally ill and drug addicts. Veterans, immigrants who of all ages and colors line the footpaths.
I started giving out our meat pies to the homeless and Australians around the USA watched on.
Another expat, Shayne Evans soon saw what I was doing and began volunteering to help out. Together we began to get more and more followers around the country to participate and we started handing our hygiene essentials with the pies for those living on Skid Row.
Clothing, soap, toothpaste, sanitizer etc became a monthly handout.
After a number of years we formalized what we were doing to create The Mateship Foundation, a non profit, on the streets to bring smiles and hope to everyone we meet.
I love what we do, I love how generous strangers are to each other. I love the smiles we spread.
Baking, and spreading the love. What an existence. Knowing my lineage I have big shoes to fill and will do my best.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I believe the most impactful trait in my journey is the desire to be 110 percent in. No attempt. No try out. Be fully committed and do what you love with every fiber in your body. Don’t be scared to be yourself. You don’t have to live conforming to what everyone expects, Be the individual. Bring your charisma to your product. There are no norms just passion.
I strive to be the best I can be very waking hour.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
My great Uncle Eddie Jaku wrote a book about his journey in life. The book is called The Happiest Man on Earth. His journey from Germany, Auschwitz’ death camp together with his insights on friendship, family, health, ethics, love, and hatred, and the simple beliefs that shaped him has shaped the person I am today and continues to guide me. “The best balm for the soul is friendship. And with that friendship, we could do the impossible”
We Aussies call it mateship, and it’s a way of life. A way to guide humanity.
Contact Info:
- Website: Aussiepiesandsausages.com
- Instagram: @aussiepiesandsaussages
- Facebook: @aussiepiesandsausages
- Other: TheMATESHIPfoundation.org