Beef Relief is a food bank related project launched in 2020 by the Island Road Ranch and the Yakima Union Gospel Mission in Yakima, Washington, to provide food bank deliveries of beef from the ranch to needy individuals. The project and ranch are operated by Dan Peplow, a professor at the University of Washington, and is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a radical-left advocacy group and fiscal sponsorship organization with a history of supporting socialist and Marxist-aligned movements in Latin America and internationally. ¹

Background

Beef Relief is also billed as the Yakima Valley Ranch to Food Bank Community Beef-Relief Project. The group is fiscally sponsored by the Alliance for Global Justice and is based in Yakima, Washington. Beef Relief is a joint effort of the Island Road Ranch and Yakima Union Gospel Mission in Yakima. It was launched in 2020 with an initial delivery of 50 pounds of ground beef with a goal of 200 pounds per week by March 2021. ¹

Island Road Ranch is owned by the Peplow family and is run by Dan and Micah Peplow. Beef Relief’s website states that “Island Road Cattle Ranch is restoring a conventional beef cattle ranch on the homeland of confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. We responded to the need for a new business model that is sustainable at the interface between environmental justice and agricultural production.” ²

The ranch also states that it has a “200-acre beef cattle operation with a carrying capacity of approximately 50 AUM that is native plant based, does not use its allocated irrigation water and supports numerous plant and animal species that were previously absent.” ²

Daniel Peplow is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington. He previously served as an environmental advisor to the political and economic section of the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname. According to his university biography, his research has centered on working with the “UN, the Organization of American States, IADB, World Bank, the G20, communities, and other diverse international partners to develop a methodology global health practitioners could use to further address international health crises where international policies contribute to compromised health conditions that pose a regional threat to security.” ³

Island Road Ranch also operates an international relief program in Suriname and French Guiana. ¹

Alliance for Global Justice

Beef Relief is affiliated with the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a controversial fiscal sponsor that supports numerous radical-left causes and activist groups. AfGJ has sponsored groups with alleged ties to foreign militant organizations and far-left movements across Latin America and the Middle East. In January 2023, the Washington Examiner reported that the Ford Foundation ceased all grantmaking to AFGJ after ‘years of warnings’ about the organization’s ties to a Palestinian group with terrorist designations under U.S. law. ^{4 5}

Beef Relief is not an independent nonprofit and operates under AfGJ’s legal and tax status. It does not file its own nonprofit tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, publish audited financial statements, or disclose its internal governance. The group’s revenue sources, expenditures, and budget scale remain unclear. Beef Relief’s website was archived as of 2025. ^{6 7 1}

1. “Beef Relief – Archived Homepage.” Internet Archive. October 5, 2023. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20231005012219/https:/beefrelief.org/
2. “About Beef Relief – Archived.” Internet Archive. June 24, 2021. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20210624130224/http://beefrelief.org/about/
3. “Daniel Peplow.” University of Washington, Health Sciences. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://hspop.uw.edu/about/faculty/member/?faculty_id=Peplow_Daniel
4. ^[1] Kaminsky, Gabe. “Liberal Ford Foundation to Stop Funding Palestinian Terror-Tied Group after Years of Warnings.” Washington Examiner. June 18, 2024. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2579782/liberal-ford-foundation-to-stop-funding-palestinian-terror-tied-group-years-of-warnings/
5. “Fiscally Sponsored Projects.” Alliance for Global Justice. Archived February 6, 2023. Accessed August 8, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20230206002753/https://afgj.org/sponsored-projects/fiscally-sponsored-projects/fiscally-sponsored-projects
6. Kaminsky, Gabe. “Liberal Ford Foundation to Stop Funding Palestinian Terror-Tied Group after Years of Warnings.” Washington Examiner. June 18, 2024. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2579782/liberal-ford-foundation-to-stop-funding-palestinian-terror-tied-group-years-of-warnings/
7. “Make a Donation!” Alliance for Global Justice. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://afgj.salsalabs.org/AdAstra/index.html