Dear Equal Plates Project friends,

Five Years and more than half-a-million meals sourced, cooked and delivered! That’s what we have accomplished together. OUR story has been a full-on group effort with everyone doing their part to get us to this point. When we talk about the WE in our narrative, we mean all of us, each and every person who has engaged in any way.  

Equal Plates Project started in 2020 during the pandemic. Even when it was deemed unsafe for us to be around each other, we came together to cook and feed people while supporting our local farm producers.  We called ourselves We Give a Share, and we appealed to donors metaphorically, asking them to support a share of a farm. “Buy a share of the vegetables, cheese, fruit, eggs, and protein that our farms are producing this season, and let’s turn that into meals for the most vulnerable in our city of Asheville.” We raised $200,000 in just a couple of weeks from hundreds of individuals. 

Initially we operated out of the Southside Kitchen at the Edington Center, feeding residents living in affordable housing in collaboration with the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville. We enlisted volunteers to help prepare/package meals. We focused on making connections between different communities of people through these thoughtfully crafted meals. We focused on dignity. We envisioned that the plates of people from varying socio-economic status would contain the same fresh healthy ingredients from the same farmers on any given day. 

We completed a circle where the local community supported the local farmers who were growing with intention for the whole of the local community.  We made a crack in the barrier that limits people's access to fresh healthy food and made them a part of the story of food production in this region we all call home.   

We decided to re-name ourselves Equal Plates Project in 2022. This name better represents the work that we are doing, and the plates that we are sending out into the community.  We continue with a simple mission of feeding vulnerable populations of people with meals built from ingredients sourced from local farmers. We are focused on intention.  We are focused on a diversity of hands being involved in feeding people. There is commitment in the relationships that we maintain and continue to build. We are engaged in meaningful conversations about food insecurity and inequities.  

In 2023, we moved our kitchen operations into Central United Methodist and First Presbyterian on Church St in downtown Asheville. We have expanded the distribution of our meals into more communities and populations. We have increased the number of meals that we produce along with increasing the amount that we are able to support local farms. We hold ourselves to this standard: 50 percent of food cost for our meals will be spent directly with the farmers of our region. We have increased the number of local farms we purchase from so that we can broaden both the variety and seasonality of our equal plates. We are collaborating with other aligned organizations to ensure that our meals reach as many people in need as possible.

We have assembled an army of volunteers packing, cooking, delivering, advocating. We have prepared ourselves to be able to feed people no matter what. When Helene hit in September of 2024, we navigated our way around downed trees and washed out bridges to harvest, cook, volunteer, donate and deliver meals to our neighbors in need.     

On our five year anniversary the future of Equal Plates Project is in OUR hands. We are striving to create and nourish more relationships and more connections. We have more farmers to support and more mouths to feed. We have more supporters to gather and more kitchen spaces to utilize. We have enormous opportunities to make a difference by growing in our capabilities and our leadership in the community.

Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm and I hope you will help us spread the word about our work. WE are accomplishing so much to benefit our community, our farm families and our partners. And it would not be possible without YOU!

Now, we’re celebrating five years with a $50,000 fundraising goal—and thanks to a generous anonymous donor, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000.

Aaron Grier

Board Chair and farmer at Gaining Ground Farm in Leicester