Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle del Hudson
Behind the Food, the Fire, and the Forge
March 2026There’s a phrase that Peter Buffett, a musician, composer, author, philanthropist, and co-president of the NoVo Foundation, likes to say “we practice 21st century alchemy by turning money into love”. Due to what he calls a “birth accident” —Peter is the third son of Warren Buffett, the investor, philanthropist, and one of the richest men in the world— he suddenly became a philanthropist in 2006 “on a scale I never imagined or expected, and that led my wife Jennifer and me to want to learn a lot about what we could do with the resources that we suddenly had at our disposal.”
The NoVo Foundation funds 100% of the operations of Radio Kingston, Hudson Valley Farm Hub, and The Metro. It also provides grants of thousands and even millions of dollars to numerous individuals and nonprofit organizations in the area, particularly in Kingston and Ulster County, including some expenses for La Voz magazine.
In an interview on my show La Voz con Mariel Fiori, now Monday through Thursday from 9 to 11am, on the new platform RadioKingstonenEspanol.org, Peter Buffett explained why he decided to support projects in Kingston and the Mid-Hudson Valley region and a concept I learned from him a few weeks ago: food, fire, and forge.
Buffett explained that, instead of wanting to expand, to make everything bigger, he believes that in philanthropy “the next big step is a lot of small things.” To reach this conclusion, he and his wife spent time traveling the world “listening, learning, and being very humble, without assuming we know the answer.” They recognized that “many of the problems were happening everywhere,” and while the problems may be very specific to each place, they are also quite common, and they seek to support initiatives that are neither “oppressive nor exploitative, but truly generative, uniting people in solidarity, rather than dividing them over all kinds of issues, whether it’s race, class, economic security, the way government has been structured, or systems that extend beyond government, like banking.”
In 2011, the couple moved to Ulster County full-time, they learned about all the good work already being done in the region, and specifically in Midtown Kingston, and decided to support many different local organizations. Peter and Jennifer Buffett knew from the country’s history and their travels that for communities to survive and thrive, they had to connect with each other; they had to know “who their neighbors were and who they could trust, who they could count on, and where the resources were.”
The framework of food, fire, and the forge is reflected in the three projects that receive full support from the NoVo Foundation. In 2013, they purchased Gill Farm in Hurley, “an extraordinary piece of farmland” that is now the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, producing food
distributed by the ton to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the region. As this was developing, Buffett met Jimmy Buff (now CEO of Radio Kingston) and recognized “the importance of local radio and giving a voice to the local community.” Thus, the station was converted in the idea of the campfire, of people sitting around the fire, “the place where people told stories and shared anecdotes.”
The forge is the most recent project which is still in progress. “This forge began to take shape when we took over the development of the Metro building on Greenkill Avenue, which proved to be the cornerstone of what could be, to some extent, much more local fabrication and manufacturing. It’s about creating and producing all sorts of things that would allow young people in the community to see a possible future here, without having to leave Kingston to do anything,” with opportunities for intergenerational learning and knowledge to transfer.
But to clarify there is no strategic plan “because we live in an era where a planning strategy is a mistake, because it signifies that they are using outdated metrics to try to do new things.” In place of using a strategy, Peter Biffett prefers “to orient himself towards something that, ultimately, is love, is connection, are relationships, to create a world much more relational than transactional.”
Who said that everything is lost? By Mariel Fiori Directorback to top
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
In an interview on my show La Voz con Mariel Fiori, now Monday through Thursday from 9 to 11am, on the new platform RadioKingstonenEspanol.org, Peter Buffett explained why he decided to support projects in Kingston and the Mid-Hudson Valley region and a concept I learned from him a few weeks ago: food, fire, and forge.
Buffett explained that, instead of wanting to expand, to make everything bigger, he believes that in philanthropy “the next big step is a lot of small things.” To reach this conclusion, he and his wife spent time traveling the world “listening, learning, and being very humble, without assuming we know the answer.” They recognized that “many of the problems were happening everywhere,” and while the problems may be very specific to each place, they are also quite common, and they seek to support initiatives that are neither “oppressive nor exploitative, but truly generative, uniting people in solidarity, rather than dividing them over all kinds of issues, whether it’s race, class, economic security, the way government has been structured, or systems that extend beyond government, like banking.”
In 2011, the couple moved to Ulster County full-time, they learned about all the good work already being done in the region, and specifically in Midtown Kingston, and decided to support many different local organizations. Peter and Jennifer Buffett knew from the country’s history and their travels that for communities to survive and thrive, they had to connect with each other; they had to know “who their neighbors were and who they could trust, who they could count on, and where the resources were.”
The framework of food, fire, and the forge is reflected in the three projects that receive full support from the NoVo Foundation. In 2013, they purchased Gill Farm in Hurley, “an extraordinary piece of farmland” that is now the Hudson Valley Farm Hub, producing food
distributed by the ton to food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the region. As this was developing, Buffett met Jimmy Buff (now CEO of Radio Kingston) and recognized “the importance of local radio and giving a voice to the local community.” Thus, the station was converted in the idea of the campfire, of people sitting around the fire, “the place where people told stories and shared anecdotes.”
The forge is the most recent project which is still in progress. “This forge began to take shape when we took over the development of the Metro building on Greenkill Avenue, which proved to be the cornerstone of what could be, to some extent, much more local fabrication and manufacturing. It’s about creating and producing all sorts of things that would allow young people in the community to see a possible future here, without having to leave Kingston to do anything,” with opportunities for intergenerational learning and knowledge to transfer.
But to clarify there is no strategic plan “because we live in an era where a planning strategy is a mistake, because it signifies that they are using outdated metrics to try to do new things.” In place of using a strategy, Peter Biffett prefers “to orient himself towards something that, ultimately, is love, is connection, are relationships, to create a world much more relational than transactional.”
Who said that everything is lost? By Mariel Fiori Directorback to top
COPYRIGHT 2026
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
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