If you are like us, you may be thinking, “this is not what I planned.”
At Appetite For Change, we were on track for our strongest spring yet. We had just celebrated 8 years of community building. Breaking Bread Café was slated for an April re-opening. Business was booming at Station 81 — our newest social enterprise in St. Paul’s Union Depot. The youth were riding the wave of their hit song, Trap or Grow. Community Cooks was in the first week of its spring season and preparations for our gardens had begun.
And then, things changed dramatically. For all of us.
While spring is not going as planned, we are centering ourselves around our essential purpose: to connect the community and come together around food.
Our core values guide our efforts:
We are community minded, first and foremost. We have mobilized to prepare and share meals for those in need across North Minneapolis — an area where the effects of economic disparity make access to fresh food difficult for a majority of residents. We’ve distributed over 14,000 free meals to our neighbors this month, atop the more than 80,000 meals grown, cooked, and shared the past year.
We are innovative. We quickly pivoted to address an estimated $1,000,000 loss in earned revenue due to COVID — essential funding which enables our charitable mission and ability to deliver broad-scale programs. We swiftly acted to address new community needs, leveraging Breaking Bread’s catering partnerships and working through the Hennepin Heroes fund to provide over 600 meals each week to healthcare workers. We don’t know what the event and restaurant industry will look like post-crisis, but AFC will be ready.
We are resilient. The pollinators are out, the greenhouses are being finished, and over 2,000 seedlings have sprouted in our nursery. We’re ready to grow fresh and chemical-free food for our community members, many of whom are disproportionately impacted by chronic health diseases that lead to poorer health outcomes and marked disparities.
We operate with integrity. We strive to meet everyone where they’re at, no matter their location, health, or circumstance, unified in the understanding of the long-term effects that uneven resource distribution has on people of color.
We are accountable. We acknowledge areas we can grow ourselves to think critically and be effective in our mission to build health, wealth, and social change. This work is essential and we must continue during this time of COVID and beyond so we are successful in confronting and addressing the structural roots of economic and health disparities that impact people of color.
We are curious. We are ready and willing to adapt this season and the next. We care. We want to hear from you. How can we help?
Together, we will make it through this. With your continued support, we can persist in building change in our community. In partnership, we will grow, share, learn, and connect through food. If you are able to make a gift, visit afcmn.org/donate.
As always, we thank you for being part of the AFC family. You inspire and humble us. We look forward to breaking bread with you again soon.
With hope and gratitude,
Princess Haley, Michelle Horovitz, & Tasha Powell
Founders of Appetite For Change
