Westword Food Blog — Community Cafe is bringing the pay-what-you-want model to Boulder

Coupon Sherpa — 13 Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants

Here is a list of the “pay-what-you-want” related kitchens in the One World Everybody Eats model.

1. One World Salt Lake City – Salt Lake city, Utah
2. SAME (So All May Eat) Cafe – Denver, Colorado
3. One World Spokane – Spokane, Washington
4. Potager – Arlington, Texas
5. A Better World Cafe – Highland Park, New Jersey
6. St Louis Bread company Cares- Clayton, Mo. Opened May 16,2010 (Future venues will be called Panera Cares)
7. Comfort Cafe – 3945 Tennyson Street Denver, Colorado (opened June 23,2010)

Coming Very Soon……
8. Cafe 180- 3315 South Broadway, Denver, Co (opening mid July 2010)
9. The Forge – a Christian Faith Based Community Kitchen 2801 S. 1St Street Abilene,Tx (opening October 2010)
10. peaceNcarrots – Boulder, Colorado (targeted opening – November 2010)

here’s the latest blurb about what our project is…

peaceNcarrots ~ a community café in Boulder, Colorado is a non-profit eatery and education center. Our mission is to use a “pay-it-forward” model with our meals, classes and events. Chef Sandy Robinson has been holding a vision for Boulder ever since she visited the SAME (So All May Eat) Café in Denver and then read an article about the original cafe, One World Everybody Eats (OWEE) in Salt Lake City. A grassroots team of dedicated volunteers meets weekly to create peaceNcarrots in Boulder with a targeted opening set for November 2010.

Patrons at our café will chose their portion size based on how hungry they are. They then pay a little or a lot, or work in exchange for the meal. Our daily menu is created with wholesome ingredients and organic local produce when possible. We’ll offer vegetarian, gluten-free and other special diet options as desired by the community. Canning, preserving and freezing will be a part of our process to have food available year round. In adherence with the zero waste policy set forth in Boulder County we’ll provide reusable tableware, recycling and composting. Through colorful signage and conversation we hope to educate/inspire our clientele and the Boulder community as a whole, on recycling, reusing, what it means to eat healthy and where our food comes from. Classes will include preparing and preserving food, how to eat well on a budget, gardening/growing, reducing food waste, job interviewing skills, alternative healing techniques and computer classes. We’re also partnering with several non-profit organizations (Carriage House Community Table, Everybody Eats! of Boulder County) to create a bridge connecting the café with their services, and vice versa. We believe this project will meet the needs of real people across the full spectrum of cultures and income, especially those who fall “in the middle”, including single parents, single income families, those recently laid-off and the self-employed. We do rely on all economic levels, from one end of the field to the other, to create this fully functioning model. Grant funding, donations, and in-kind contributions are sought to meet the start-up budget. After start-up, the café will be 80% self-sustaining with funds earned by its own revenue, with 20% of funds donated by grants, community fundraising and larger donations from the private and public sector. Additional income will be used for community outreach programs and further education.

We believe we can give a little forward to give a little back.

Here’s a video about a wonderful project in California called EarthSave. It’s founder, John Robbins, is the author of the above quote. (thanks for sending me this, Guy)

This is Nick Vujicic’s amazing and inspiring video.

I came across this article on facebook this morning. This breaks my heart, pisses me off and causes a stronger alignment to my mission and the community cafe project. How soon will more of us live from compassion, rather than greed? Why do we have starving people in this county when 60% of our food is being thrown away? oy!

I am in deep appreciation to those working to be the change they wish to see, especially bringing real food to real people. Thank you to my One World Everybody Eats family both near and far. Thank you to all of the creators working to open our Community Cafe of Boulder with me. Thank you Jaime Oliver for doing what you do and for broadcasting it for the masses on network television. This is an amazing time to be here on this planet.

Much love to those that have made decisions following their wallet, rather than their heart. May you find your way back… or not.

Today I received this message/confirmation from the Universe via Mike Dooley… and boy, is it ever true. Since I began aligning with this cafe project I have been in a huge metamorph. I love you Universe!

Invariably, when big dreams come true, and I mean BIG, Sandy, there is a total metamorphosis of one’s life. Their thoughts change, their words change, decisions are made differently, gratitude is tossed about like rice at a wedding, priorities are rearranged, and optimism soars…. Yeah, they’re almost annoying.

You could have guessed all that, huh?

Would you have guessed that these changes, invariably, come before, not after, their dream’s manifestation?

Woohooooooo,
The Universe

Madurai, India (CNN) — Narayanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe changed everything.

“I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food,” Krishnan said. “It really hurt me so much. I was literally shocked for a second. After that, I started feeding that man and decided this is what I should do the rest of my lifetime.”

Krishnan was visiting a temple in the south Indian city of Madurai in 2002 when he saw the man under a bridge. Haunted by the image, Krishnan quit his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new destiny.

“That spark and that inspiration is a driving force still inside me as a flame — to serve all the mentally ill destitutes and people who cannot take care of themselves,” Krishnan said.

Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — to India’s homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.

Because of the poverty India faces, so many mentally ill people have been … left uncared [for] on the roadside of the city,” he said.

Krishnan said the name Akshaya is Sanskrit for “undecaying” or “imperishable,” and was chosen “to signify [that] human compassion should never decay or perish. … The spirit of helping others must prevail for ever.” Also, in Hindu mythology, Goddess Annapoorani’s “Akshaya bowl” fed the hungry endlessly, never depleting its resources.

Krishnan’s day begins at 4 a.m. He and his team cover nearly 125 miles in a donated van, routinely working in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

He seeks out the homeless under bridges and in the nooks and crannies between the city’s temples. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian fare he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 clients each day.

click here for more

Last week I met with a friend who is building a new community cafe in North Denver. We talked about the holding on and letting go process of this type of project. For a while the momentum builds and many more irons in the fire start heating up… then, in an instant, backing away from the fire with thoughts of grabbing my z-coils and hopping away in the opposite direction begin to appear. I’m reminded of this message from a Hopi Elder, and inspired to practice floating along in my canoe:

“You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered . . .

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leader.”

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time!”

“There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.

“Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

“The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from you attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

~ attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder, Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona

and now a Yahoo Group… join the group for updates, meeting info and more…