Everybody Eats - A Movement

Setting the Bar: Grayson Arthurs on Transition, Community, and Finding Safe Spaces Renee welcomes Grayson Arthurs, former Farm Cafe intern and current community engagement coordinator at He, She, Z and We, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit in Richmond, Virginia. What started as a college internship for political science credit became one of the most meaningful experiences of Grayson's life. Now working with tra...

The journey of Crescent City Cafe - from Pop-Up to Brick-and-Mortar Renee chats with Adelle Bergman, executive director of Crescent City Cafe in New Orleans, on the 20th anniversary of the day she drove into the city with her Honda Accord to do Hurricane Katrina relief work. What started as a one-year commitment became two decades of community building through food. Founded in 2009 by Adelle's fri...

In this episode, Renee chats with Robert, a volunteer and community member at A Place at the Table Raleigh, about how a community cafe became a lifeline during his most challenging moments. A recent exercise physiology graduate, Robert transitioned from first-time diner to regular volunteer and shares how the cafe offers far more than nutrition. He credits the community and sense of belonging at A...

From Fine Dining to Food Equity: Morgan Stewart and the Big Big Table Renee welcomes Morgan Stewart to the podcast.   Morgan is the Volunteer and Communications Manager at Big Big Table in Buffalo, New York. After becoming disillusioned with the for-profit restaurant world, Morgan found a different way forward at Big Big Table, an intimate 16-seat space on Buffalo's Lower West Side. The café serve...

Making it easier for people to be good Renee chats with Theresa Marten, former staff member at SAME Cafe in Denver and current program manager for the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, to explore what it means to create spaces where people can practice being human together. Inspired by Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, Theresa found her calling at SAME Cafe, where she spent five years le...

A Journey from Community Cafe to Community Art Renee sits down with Jennifer Seaver, Farm Cafe's very first manager who help bring order to Farm Cafe's early chaos by building the systems and daily reports that still run the cafe today. But more importantly, she absorbed its core belief that dignity and access matter more than money. When she moved to Raleigh, she founded Art for All, a nonprofit...

In the Season Two finale, Renee Boughman flips the mic toward the next generation, talking with two App State students whose lives have been shaped by Farm Cafe from the inside: Giovanna Dubuc, a Farm Cafe intern studying political science and languages, and Amoreena Kroup, a dedicated volunteer studying sustainable community services. What starts as a simple question — how did you find Farm Cafe?...

In this episode, Renee talks with Jeff and Julie Williams, co-founders of Taste Project in Fort Worth, Texas — one of the largest and most distinctive community cafes in the country. With a full-service, sit-down restaurant model and an ACF-accredited culinary apprenticeship program, Taste Project is doing things a little differently in the pay-what-you-can world. Jeff shares how a persistent call...

Renee talks with Jenny Knowlton, the Executive Director and Founder of the Quiltmaker Cafe in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Named after the beloved children’s book The Quiltmaker’s Gift, the cafe is a testament to the power of patience and community persistence. Jenny shares the candid reality of a five-year journey to find a brick-and-mortar home. Despite many obstacles, Jenny didn't just wait; she...

In this episode, Renee is joined by her colleague and close friend, Elena Dalton, the Executive Director of Farm Cafe. Elena shares her journey from a vision-board-planning applicant to leading the organization through some transformative years. The heart of this conversation explores the "expert generalist" nature of nonprofit leadership and the unique, successful succession plan that kept Renee...

Host Renee Boughman sits down with Rev. Laura Evans Mahn, founder and executive director of NEST Cafe (Nourish Everyone Sustainably Together), a pay-what-you-can cafe in Rock Island, Illinois, serving the Quad Cities. Laura and Renee dig into what it takes to establish a mission-driven cafe, why so many of these spaces are led by women, and what critics get wrong about “feel-good” solutions to hun...

In the studio with Renee is Marcus Gupton, a long-time volunteer and staff member of Farm Cafe in Boone, North Carolina. Marcus shares his journey through homelessness, describing it as “the collapse of your entire outer reality,” and explains how Farm Cafe became both a refuge and a community for him. Together, Renee and Marcus explore the transformative power of human connection in a pay-what-yo...

In this episode, host Renee Boughman welcomes Libby Birky, co-founder of SAME Cafe in Denver, for a deep dive into the philosophy and practicalities behind community cafes. Libby shares her journey from running one of the nation’s first nonprofit, pay-what-you-can cafe to mentoring new cafes across the country, emphasizing the importance of dignity, authentic relationships, and community participa...

In this episode Renee welcomes Maggie Kane, founder of "A Place at the Table" in Raleigh, NC, for a candid conversation about the joys and challenges of running a community cafe. Maggie shares her journey from nonprofit work to managing a pay-what-you-can restaurant, reflecting on the unexpected complexities of combining food service with a mission to serve everyone with dignity. Together, they di...

In this episode, host Renee Boughman sits down with Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Cafe in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Christie shares the story behind the café’s whimsical name, her fierce commitment to vegan cuisine, and why Tricklebee chose to open its doors in a neighborhood often overlooked.     Rev. Christie Melby-Gibbons is the Executive Director of Tricklebee Cafe, Milw...

Welcome to the first episode of Everybody Eats - A Movement, a podcast that explores the intersection of good food and social change. Join host Renee Boughman, a former fine dining chef turned nonprofit leader, as she dives into the inspiring story of Community Cafes where everyone is welcome, and meals are served with dignity, regardless of ability to pay. Discover how a simple question - "Why is...