"Food Church was born out of Cunningham’s desire to help the community access healthy foods, build bridges within the community and bring together people from all walks of life around a common denominator: food. The name Food Church came to her after contemplating unity and places people gather. At its core, Food Church is a secular, non-profit café designed around the belief that food unites us.
The pay-what-you-can community café model has grown in popularity over the past few years; earlier this year, Denise Cerreta, founder of the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, was awarded a James Beard Humanitarian Award for her work.
Cunningham and Speed operate Food Church as partners. The goals of the café are to utilize wholesome after-market food items to create nutritious and affordable meals, compost as much as possible and provide composting services to the community, and host sustainable monthly pop-ups that unite and uplift people.
Food Church has partnered with several local non-profits that grant them access to after-market food items from area grocery stores, farmers' markets and farms. “Most of what we glean for Food Church are whole fruits and vegetables and staple pantry items like beans and pastas,” Cunningham says.
The monthly Food Church pop-up dinners are known as Souper Soul(full) Sundays. Guests are encouraged to make a donation for a pack of seeds ($5, $10 or $20) and then enjoy food, drinks, art and music. Cunningham envisions these dinners as “being a catalyst for building community, uplifting and uniting people around the common bond of food.” Dinners are typically held the last Sunday of each month and include a delicious meal, craft sodas and a family-friendly art bar with varying themes. The latter is stocked with art supplies and take-home coloring sheets. "
https://www.feastmagazine.com/the-feed/st_louis_news/article_3c9d5916-ce2c-11e7-adc9-3f1f29c664b2.html
The pay-what-you-can community café model has grown in popularity over the past few years; earlier this year, Denise Cerreta, founder of the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, was awarded a James Beard Humanitarian Award for her work.
Cunningham and Speed operate Food Church as partners. The goals of the café are to utilize wholesome after-market food items to create nutritious and affordable meals, compost as much as possible and provide composting services to the community, and host sustainable monthly pop-ups that unite and uplift people.
Food Church has partnered with several local non-profits that grant them access to after-market food items from area grocery stores, farmers' markets and farms. “Most of what we glean for Food Church are whole fruits and vegetables and staple pantry items like beans and pastas,” Cunningham says.
The monthly Food Church pop-up dinners are known as Souper Soul(full) Sundays. Guests are encouraged to make a donation for a pack of seeds ($5, $10 or $20) and then enjoy food, drinks, art and music. Cunningham envisions these dinners as “being a catalyst for building community, uplifting and uniting people around the common bond of food.” Dinners are typically held the last Sunday of each month and include a delicious meal, craft sodas and a family-friendly art bar with varying themes. The latter is stocked with art supplies and take-home coloring sheets. "
https://www.feastmagazine.com/the-feed/st_louis_news/article_3c9d5916-ce2c-11e7-adc9-3f1f29c664b2.html