Group that raised relief money after NC hurricanes pivots to fight hunger
A new nonprofit aimed at feeding the hungry in an innovative way has launched in Raleigh — but the familiar faces behind the organization already have a long track record of helping North Carolinians in need.
Now Serving, the hunger relief organization officially launched Sept. 14, stems from and rebrands The Sunday Supper, the successful relief effort that brought thousands to downtown Raleigh in 2016 and 2018 after Hurricanes Matthew and Florence ravaged parts of North Carolina.
Sitting around tables that stretched for two blocks, attendees at the Sunday Supper events shared meals of North Carolina staples — barbecue, Brunswick stew, slaw and more — and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for storm victims, all while fostering a sense of community and togetherness in the Triangle and around the state.
Now Serving will apply those same principles of community and togetherness to fight hunger in Raleigh and beyond, allowing the ideals of The Sunday Supper to live on in a more consistent, direct way. It’s an idea sparked by the pandemic, which made hosting large-scale fundraising events nearly impossible to execute, executive director Greg Lowenhagen told The News & Observer.
“The Sunday Supper has become Now Serving to directly support the most vulnerable among us,” Now Serving’s website reads. “We have experience mobilizing people to meet a need and understand scale.”
The two organizations share the same board members — including Sunday Supper co-founders Joyce Kohn, Willa Kane and Harris Vaughan, among others — but will exist as separate nonprofit entities, Lowenhagen said.
Creating local partnerships to fight hunger
To fight hunger in the Triangle, Now Serving will largely focus on fostering partnerships between local restaurants wanting to make an impact in their communities and community-based organizations (CBOs) already engaged in hunger relief work.
“What we’re trying to do is support local restaurants and caterers with business, and that typically looks like a regular, consistent catering order that we can get from them, and in turn, we pair them with a community-based organization that they may or may not have known previously ... and we create a relationship,” Lowenhagen said.
“So, Now Serving is a bit of a networker between the food industry, as it exists in restaurants and caterers, and CBOs, who have been on the frontlines doing work and have recipients who need food.”
The organization has been testing the waters of its “fresh approach” to hunger relief since February, Lowenhagen said, already serving more than 18,000 meals in the Triangle.
“We want people to not be hungry,” Lowenhagen said. “And I’m not sure we’re going to be the end-all solution to hunger in the United States, but we need novel ways to address it.”
Local restaurants and caterers can engage with Now Serving’s efforts in one of two main ways, or both:
▪ Meal Funders raise funds through sales in their restaurants, typically through a specific menu item, and donate the proceeds to Now Serving’s meal preparation and distribution efforts. Three local restaurants are already on board with Now Serving as Meal Funders: Sunny Gerhart’s St. Roch, Sean Fowler’s Mandolin and Coleen Speaks’ Hummingbird.
While Meal Funders support some financial burden of making the meals, Now Serving is also supported by other “traditional” sources of nonprofit funding, such as grants and donors, Lowenhagen said.
▪ Meal Makers, which are often caterers, prepare healthy meals to be distributed by community organizations. Companies currently supporting Now Serving as Meal Makers are Speaks’ PoshNosh Catering, Jason Johnson’s HUBB Kitchens and Tudi Jackson’s Ladyfingers.
Community-based organizations then distribute the food prepared by the Meal Makers according to each organization’s needs and schedules. The meals provided by Now Serving are often supplemental to existing donations, Lowenhagen said, allowing the shelf-stable and non-perishable items that organizations generally distribute to last longer for each person in need.
For example, Lowenhagen said, Now Serving has been working with New Bethel Food Pantry to provide meals at the organization’s long-standing food distributions on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, where people are generally provided with shelf-stable groceries.
“We come on top of that, and we provide a half hotel pan casserole that is good for a family for a couple of nights,” Lowenhagen said. “That lets their groceries just last a little bit longer.”
Now Serving has also allowed Meals on Wheels of Wake County, another participating community organization, to provide weekend meals for the first time, distributing two weekend supplements from PoshNosh Catering to more than 320 recipients.
“Our seniors really look forward to these meals,” Stephanie Thurm, assistant director of program services at Meals on Wheels, said in the release announcing the launch of Now Serving. “Not only do they provide additional food security for our homebound clients, but they also love having restaurant quality meals.”
The Women’s Center and the Brentwood Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County are also already participating in Now Serving’s initiative as community-based organizations.
Fundraiser with acclaimed local chefs
As Now Serving launches and brings a new brand to The Sunday Supper, the organization will also stay close to its roots in a fundraiser for the new efforts.
Chefs Sunny Gerhart and Ricky Moore, recent winner of the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast award and owner of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, will host a “collaborative” Sunday Supper at Gerhart’s St. Roch Fine Oysters & Bar in Raleigh on — of course — a Sunday (Sept. 25).
The dinner, which will offer a multi-course, family style meal, will be held “in support of Now Serving and Gerhart’s history of serving the community through meals to those experiencing food insecurity.”
The event will be open to the public. Tickets for the event are $75 each and will be available on the Resy online reservation platform: resy.com/cities/rdu/st-roch-fine-oysters-and-bar?date=2022-09-25.
Lowenhagen said Now Serving will likely host similar dinner events quarterly to continue fundraising for the organization, but plans have not been finalized.
The public can also support Now Serving by visiting the participating Meal Funder restaurants, which are listed nowservingnc.org/restaurants, or by donating online by clicking the “Give Now” button at nowservingnc.org.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
