2017 marks The Blind Pig Supper Club operating in its sixth year in Asheville. While we are proud to have supported over 100 charitable organizations through our productions, we have been inspired to launch a campaign this year which focuses on a very large problem with food that exists in Western North Carolina.

An estimated 107,600 people in WNC turned to food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families, according to the new "Hunger in America" study by relief organization Feeding America. Sixty percent of the households that seek food assistance in Western North Carolina are surviving on less than $1,000 a month. According to a local study funded by The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. 

 
“Three out of four households chose between paying for food and paying for utilities at least once in the past year. Nearly 50 percent of people living in extreme poverty are 18 years old or younger.”
 

The fact of the matter is that healthy and fresh food, the cornerstone of what every human needs, has leveraged itself as unaffordable by many households. Many of us know that cheaper food and more convenient food is not always healthy for us. This is very problematic for so many and is one of the causes leading to obesity, depression, as well as many other medical issues in our families. 

The Blind Pig Supper Club would like to do its part in helping with this problem of hunger and poverty that effects many of our neighbors within our very local communities. Beginning in January of 2017, we will launch a campaign through a series of pop up dinner events along with connections made from Manna FoodBank, Bounty & Soul, ABIPA, and Victory Fellowship. 

With the assistance from local food pantries, community resource groups and hunger assistance networks in our region, we identify and select individuals and families from within the thread work of our community to support. 

Each pop up dinner in this series (beginning in January and going through July) will support a family or individual in need and provide them with a bounty of fresh local vegetables (weekly) from a full seasons CSA. The full CSA season willextend from May through November. That is fresh food on the table for the majority of a year. We are proud to partner with Just Ripe Farm in Pisgah Forest, NC as we launch this campaign. The Blind Pig Supper Club plans to work with a host of other start up and local farms such as Pitch Pine Farms, Root Bottom Farms, Ten Mile Farm, Blue Meadow Farm, Gaining Ground Farm and also the Intentional Swine local meat CSA. We will purchase from these providers as our campaign progresses.

This campaign is impactful to those in need as well to our local farming economy. Rally Around the Family supports and provides to those who cannot afford fresh food otherwise as well as giving start up farms the viable financial support they need crucial in the first few years of business. We are proud to help make this bridge and thankful for the networking and collaboration from outstanding local organizations with similar missions of fighting poverty and hunger through outreach. Bounty & Soul is an example of one of the organizations which help us to identify families in need. We plan to assist families and individuals which are selected in our campaign with recipes and instructions on planning, preparing and cooking these fresh vegetables which will soon be delivered weekly into their homes. 

We need your help in this important campaign!

Your assistance is dire in our mission. The Blind Pig Supper Club would like to put fresh food on the table and into the hands of the families that need it most. One large full CSA season costs $750 ($25 weekly). One small full season CSA costs $450 ($15 weekly). Sample Spring CSA boxes will include fresh lettuces, garlic, spring onions, carrots, beets, radish, kale, cabbage and strawberries. You can follow this campaign effort here on our website as well as on our social media pages. We will add more information and pictures of our success in this campaign as it progresses.

How to Help

Have spare change? You can help us by donating individually for this campaign at any time. Any donation amount you deem helps us greatly. Additionally, we will make a donation with each ticket purchased from January through July to the Rally Around the Family campaign! Please help us by spreading the word to your neighbor about this important cause.  Links to our collaborative partners with Rally Around the Family as well as other agencies which fight poverty and hunger are provided below.

Thank you for your support!

Please make a donation of your choice by using our donate button below. All funds collected by this donation will go directly to the Rally Around the Family Campaign!