06/15/2026
What a wonderful Saturday we had with our neighbors and local organizations feeding folks and exemplifying the abundance of community!
Just look at all the locally sourced, nutrious food!
And all those smiling faces! Because who doesn't like a free, delicious meal?
But here's the thing. It's not "free" in the sense that some people earned it and some people didn't. It's "open access", meaning this food is a resource that was deliberately allocated to feeding EVERYONE for the sake of meeting that basic human need - to eat.
It gets better!
Farmers Market vendors seen a 20%+ increase in their sales that day. 💪😎🫶
Feeding the folks that feed us isn't just morally right, it's smart.
How it works - ACM Project ACM receives funding for its community activities, then distributes that funding into local resources as a means of literally and figuratively feeding ACM's community. This builds a resilient feedback loop that amplifies the benefits of locally sourced food and trust networks with your neighbors, offering support to everyone, from small business owners to the unhoused and everyone in-between. Access is guaranteed.
More on how it works -
ACM receives funding for their community activities.
We take that funding and invest it in as many local sources as possible. This time we invested that funding into our local farmers and growers. We bought approximately 40 lb of beef from Creek Cattle Co., then accepted some more beef from Gina Hudson and Anthony Hudson .
Then we purchased gorgeous heirloom tomatoes from Goosehill Down Farms (part of which they graciously donated).
We purchased gobs of sweet, juicy lettuce from Eight Stock Farm
A community superstar, Beth and her husband Mike from Berea Kentucky Kiwanis Club Foundation Incorporated a 501c3 donated the ingredients for, and prepared a dozen large pans of summertime cobbler.
Anthony Hudson from Rotary Club of Berea, KY and his wife Gina Hudson , director of the Farmers market, prepared the burgers, with Anthony serving them the day of.
Throw in our loyal and essential volunteers - Jason Foreman on detail, Alsisha on welcoming and photo documentation, our director Amanda serving tableside and the 20 lb of cornbread salad she made, along with faithful friends like Rosie and Ruby who always report to pitch in wherever we need help, and you've got abundance provided by a community that showed up to create something together.
We fed 200 people that day, not counting those who showed up after the burgers were gone and enjoyed the cornbread salad, veggies and cobbler.
🌻Sharing
🌻Sourcing local
🌻Showing up for each other =🫂 community.
It's not as difficult as you might think. Especially when there's many people working together to make the lift easier.
Just imagine if this kind of gathering was more normalized ....
The Appalachians are a place where interconnectedness has always been the foundation of survival. Often times that has looked like people sharing basic resources and coming together to do the work and enjoy the benefits.
Thank you for joining us on our 2nd Annual Farm to Fork collaboration.
🥬🍔Remember to shop local and make friends with your local farmers and growers.
It's more affordable than you might think and will require less adjustment than most people would imagine. The result is a happier healthier community that's cleaner and more sustainable.
P. S. MANY THANKS to Berea Farmers Market for this opportunity!
Also, if anyone just happens to want to donate a transit van in good shape, we'll take it because it's beginning to get a little difficult to Tetris everything into our director's car! 😅
