Who is involved in Food Connection Asheville?
A bit of history
Flori Pate, co-founder of Dig Local, aka "Asheville's App," co-founded Food Connection in December of 2014 in partnership with Mary Evans from Packs Tavern, Buzz Durham from Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, Woody McKee from Asheville Taxi and Amy Cantrell from BeLoved Asheville. Since its inception Food Connection has rescued well over 135,000 fresh meals to feed those in need.
AVL Ride (formerly Asheville Taxi)
Woody McKee, owner of AVL Ride helped launch Food Connection in Asheville by providing transportation services to move the meals via his ride service. We could not have experienced such success without him! Next time you need a cab in Asheville, use his service. Call or text 828-333-1976
UNCA
Pulled pork, tempeh, butternut squash, quinoa and kale salad, roasted chicken- These are just some of the meals we've picked up from UNCA. Since launching our partnership in 2015, tens of thousands of pounds of fresh, healthy food have been delivered to those in need in Asheville. This is an ongoing partnership.
Food Donor Partners
• Packs Tavern
(pictured, Chef Edwin and Mary Evans, co-founder)
• Celine & Company
* UNC Asheville
• The Omni Grove Park Inn
• Deerfield Retirement Center
• The Crest Center/ M7 Solutions
• The Collider
• Mars Hill University
• Sierra Nevada
• Bouchon
• Vinnie's Italian
• Smash Events, Inc.
• Buxton Hall
• Twisted Laurel
• The Capital Club
* Dining Innovations
• The Funkatorium
* The Wedge at Foundation
• 12 Bones
Food Recipient Partners
• MusicWorks! After School Program
• Trinity Place Shelter for Runaway Youth
• Beloved Asheville
• Veterans Restoration Quarters
• East Asheville Welcome Table
• WNC Rescue Ministries
• Haywood Street Respite Center
• MusicWorks! After School Program
• Asheville High School Homeless Student Education Group
• Salvation Army of Buncombe County
Community Supporters
• Wicked Weed Brewing
• Parsec Financial
• Episcopal Diocese of WNC
• Dig Local Asheville
• Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
* St. James Episcopal Church of Black Mtn.
• Chiesa
• RISC Networks
• Celine & Company
• Biltmore Wines
• Geraldine's
• Aloft Hotel
• Signarama
• Bank of America
• Leslie Sharpe - Berkshire Heights
• The French Broads V2V
• Will Run for Food V2V
• Sierra Nevada
• B.B. Barns
• Rotary Club of Asheville
About Asheville
Thriving culinary scene. Poverty and hunger. Connecting the dots.
People travel from all over the world to experience the eclectic vibe of Asheville, NC. We have the mountains, a thriving arts & music scene, James Beard Award winning chefs... It is a hot destination for vacations, conferences, weddings and more.
In the shadows, there is a much bleaker image where 1 in 4 children do not know where their next meal is coming from. This is what you don't see on the glossy magazine covers promoting tourism in our city.
Food Connection was born in Asheville around the holiday season in 2014 to help bridge the disconnect between caterers with too much food, to nonprofit partners in need of food. We're not asking chefs to make special meals for us, we're just simply asking that they not trash or compost any meals that happen to be left at the end of an event or meal.
Now, gourmet meals that were filling our local landfills are filling bellies instead. Meals are going to those living on the streets through BeLoved Asheville, our heroes at the Veterans Restoration Quarters, the children at Trinity Place Shelter for Runaway Youth, the folks at the free meal every Thursday at the East Asheville Welcome Table, and more.
We continue to believe that NO fresh food should ever end up in the trash while people go hungry, especially Asheville's gourmet "Foodtopia" food.
It makes so much sense and we are honored to help with the connecting part.
Do you have surplus food that's going in the trash or compost?
Please help us expand our mission of keeping Asheville's delicious gourmet food out of the local landfills. There are ways for your business to begin donating fresh food right away while feeding our neighbors in need.