NOVEMBER 24, 2011 ISSUE
Helping Hands Fundraiser for F.A.R.M. Cafe December 2
The Helping Hands fundraiser for F.A.R.M. Cafe will take place on Friday, December 2, at Boone Drug Downtown during Art Crawl. For a donation to the up-and-coming community kitchen, all are invited to dip their hands in paint and contribute a handprint to the canvases that will help decorate the cafe.
Attendees do not necessarily have to get their hands dirty to be part of the Helping Hands fundraiser for F.A.R.M. (Feed All Regardless of Means) Cafe, which will take place on Friday, December 2, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Boone Drug Downtown during Art Crawl.
However, for a donation, those who don’t mind getting messy can come in, dip their hands in paint and then put their handprint on a canvas, explained Linda Coutant, a member of the board of directors for F.A.R.M. Cafe.
“The idea is that everyone in the community has a hand in the opening of this restaurant, which is a community kitchen,” she said.
The fundraiser also involves live music and food, she noted.
F.A.R.M. Cafe is a nonprofit, pay-as-you-can restaurant. It will rent its space from the Boone Drug Downtown location, with organizers planning to sign the lease on January 1 and open on April 1, 2012.
It adheres to the six tenants of a community kitchen, which are as follows: serve locally grown food, no set prices, no set menu, patrons choose their own portions to help reduce waste, use volunteers primarily to run the operations and pay the staff a “living wage,” Coutant said.
Originally, F.A.R.M. Cafe organizers estimated a $50,000 startup cost, but that number changed to the current goal of $75,000 when they realized they would have to add handicapped-accessible restrooms.
“Boone Drug had been grandfathered in to various codes regarding handicapped codes,” she said, but as a new business coming into that space, they must install the bathrooms.
Currently, $42,000 has been raised of the needed funds.
The event is being organized by five ASU communication students currently enrolled in a fundraising class, Coutant said, and the canvases were donated by local art supply companies.
One large canvas is about six feet long, and there are smaller canvases as well, she said, that could be hung in the bathrooms or elsewhere in the building.
About 20 such community kitchens are operating in the U.S., Coutant said.
“We’ve never had anything like it in Boone, [but] it’s working in other parts of the country,” she said.
All are welcome to “eat a meal in a place of dignity,” and it helps address “one part of the issues of food and security here locally,” Coutant said. “It’s a fun and innovative way to make a change.”
“The new restaurant will hopefully bring the community together locally to help a global issue of hunger,” said Melissa Vega, communication leader of her group for the fundraising class at ASU.
As a project, her class had to work with a nonprofit and organize a fundraiser for them, she said.
“I heard about F.A.R.M. Cafe earlier this year and couldn’t be more excited to be a part of their organization and help as much as possible,” Vega said. “It’s as if they are looking at the world through a whole new lens, and our world needs just that.”
“Twenty-one percent of Watauga County lives below the national poverty level,” Coutant said. “That’s unacceptable really, [and] none of us are that many paychecks away from needing [services like this].”
F.A.R.M. Cafe has partnered with some local farms and co-ops, and locally produced food will make up as much as possible of the food served, she said.
The two paid employees of F.A.R.M. Cafe will be one chef/manager and one volunteer coordinator, she said.
“We need a core group of about 50 people to volunteer and commit to a number of hours every month,” she said, and if anyone is willing to step up and do that, they can sign up for hours by emailing info@farmcafe.org.
So far, ASU students have met the idea of the restaurant with enthusiasm. Earlier this month, a volunteer interest meeting took place, and although 40 attendees were expected, 75 came, Coutant said.
“They’re very energized; they can participate and make a difference,” she said. “They are drawn to the innovative approach to help with a problem they have heard about all their lives.”
Many students have already volunteered to help when F.A.R.M. Cafe opens, she added.
After Helping Hands, the next slated fundraiser is the “Hungry Hearts” art auction that will take place on Friday, December 16, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the High Country Press building, located at 130 North Depot Street in Boone.
The auction is of eight-inch wooden hearts that have been painted for F.A.R.M. Cafe by local artists including Toni Carlton, Lowell Hayes, Kincheloe, Debbie Tallarico and more. Attendance will be limited, and more details will be coming soon, Coutant said.
For more information about either fundraising event or to sign up to volunteer when the restaurant opens, email info@farmcafe.org.
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