February Café Update - Grace on the Go
Dear Friends of Grace Café,
We want to share some exciting news with you. What started as Kentucky’s first community restaurant, previously located in Danville on 4th Street from 2015 to 2020, Grace Café is transforming into something fresh and different. We are reopening as a food trailer this year with the same great mission, only now we’re going mobile!
Grace Café on the Go will aim to increase food security in Danville and Boyle County by providing access to healthy food on a pay-what-you-can basis. A food trailer will give us the ability to serve food with dignity throughout the community, we are hopeful that we will reach more people who are food insecure, including those among us who are most vulnerable and face transportation barriers – children and the elderly.
We live in a very prosperous community, yet many of our neighbors are food insecure. In fact, over 3,500 Boyle County residents are food insecure, which is nearly 12% of the population, according to the latest study from Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap research. Among those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, nearly 800 are children. To help alleviate this problem, since 2021, Grace Café has been operating a weekly Snack Bag program run by dedicated volunteers for Danville High School students who face food insecurity.
And with your help, we are ready and positioned to do even more.
Through our nonprofit food trailer, Grace Café on the Go will help make fresh, nutritious food more available to folks throughout the area. Aligning with our founding community café model, meals will have a suggested price with a pay-what-you-can option. If one can’t pay for their meal, they can work at the trailer in exchange for it. We believe in a hand-up, not a hand-out, and strive for reciprocity.
The success of our endeavor depends on community support and effective partnerships. Our aim is to create a community where everybody eats and to advance the work of grace for all. Currently, we are in the process of raising $75,000 to purchase our food trailer, outfit it, and acquire the truck to haul it.
We would love for you to partner with us to bring this needed resource to our community. We will be sharing ways you can donate soon. If you would like to give now, please mail your check to our address listed below or visit gracecafeky.org/donate.
With gratitude,
Jennifer Earle Mary Beth Murray
Executive Director Development & Communications Director