GRACE CAFE

Press release 

Grace Café, Kentucky’s first nonprofit pay-what-you-can café, will host its 4th Annual Gratitude Block Party 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, July 13th. The event will feature live music by Tri-County Bluegrass Band and local food prepared by café staff and Happy Hour BBQ.

New this year, the Gratitude Block Party will feature a resource booth hosted by the newly-formed Coalition for a Hunger Free Boyle County. The Coalition is a collaborative group of local organizations working together to identify and address food security solutions in Boyle County through education, advocacy, fundraising and specialized services.

For this special event, guests are asked to donate from their heart rather than give a suggested donation amount. Grace Café is located at 219 S. 4th St. in Danville.

“Please join the staff and board of Grace Café as we celebrate four years of work to end food insecurity in our community,” said Grace Café Board President Heather C. Pennington. “We are so grateful for the support this community has shown Grace Café and its mission over the past four years. We look forward to continuing this important work with help from our customers and community.”

Grace Café is open every day. Lunch is served 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday, breakfast 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday, and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. For more information, visit gracecafeky.org.

Founded in 2015, Grace Café is a non-profit organization that serves as a pay-what-you-can farm-to-table restaurant. The café’s mission is to end hunger by providing daily access to nutritious, fresh, and locally-sourced meals to everyone, regardless of means.

In Danville and Boyle County there is a significant need for hunger relief. Data from the 2019 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Report reveals that 15% of Boyle County residents do not know where their next meal is coming from and 20% of our children live in poverty.

At Grace Café, everyone participates in solving this critical community issue. Those who are able to pay the suggested donation amount, or pay-it-forward, help with the cost of another meal for someone who is experiencing food insecurity. People who pay-what-they-can have access to the same meals as someone who pays it forward and their dignity is never compromised. People who volunteer for a meal help to run the Café, and contribute to the solution while learning valuable skills in the process.

Since opening in July of 2015 and through April 2019, the Café has served 69,101 meals. In 2018, 368 unduplicated volunteers worked a total of 4,005 hours. Of those, 177 unduplicated volunteers worked a total of 762 hours in exchange for a meal. This represents a 41% increase in the number of people working for a meal since 2017. In addition, Grace Café has invested more than $83,000 directly into central Kentucky’s farming community.