FOOD

FOOD Feeding a Need

Ascension’s Food Truck Rally Raises Money for New Backpack Program to Feed Food Insecure Students

By Emily Williams-RoBERtshaW

Each year, the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Vestavia Hills celebrates Ascension Day, which occurs 40 days after Easter.

Last year’s annual Food Truck Rally had to be canceled because of the pandemic, but this year the event was back with a new cause.

On May 13, local food trucks and about 600 guests gathered at the church to celebrate Ascension Day and to support the church’s Backpack Program, which provides weekend meals to food insecure students at Vestavia Hills Elementary School.

More than $4,000 was raised for the program.

“Sometimes people say a prayer before they have this great meal, and they say keep us mindful of the needs of others,” the Rev. Jack Alvey, rector of Ascension, said. “This is a way that we can have a great meal and a great time but also contribute to a meal for someone who has to go without.”

Though the program had existed in previous years in some iteration, it wasn’t resurrected until this past year.

The idea was sparked by Alvey’s Leadership Vestavia Hills’ class of 2019. Each class is broken into groups that are given a topic of service. Group members then research the issue as it relates to the local community and come up with ways to solve the issue.

Alvey was on Team Hunger.

“One of the things that we learned through our research was that about 7.5% of kids in the Vestavia Hills City Schools system are on free and reduced lunch,” he said. “That told us that there was a significant need.”

It accounted for about 500 students in the school system at that time.

Those percentages were gathered in 2019. Throw in a pandemic amount of job loss and wage cuts and the problem could be significantly greater now.

In 2019, members of Alvey’s small group didn’t feel they were in a position to address the problem themselves; they just didn’t have the manpower.

“We felt like a bigger entity or institution needed to take it on,” he said.

“The seed was planted through my LVH class,” he said. So, it remained until a weekly staff meeting drew it to the surface.

It was apparent that COVID restrictions would ease by the event date this year and it was believed the festivities would be a great way to begin bringing the community back together.

“One of the things we have really been focusing on over the past few years is how we can be more present in the community,” he said. “How can we meet the needs of the members of our community?”

Both the staff and the church’s board of directors were on board not only with the idea for the program but the idea to use funds from the festival to support the new mission.

“God just seemed to say this is what you need to look into,” he said.

The program is being spearheaded by parish member Anna Colvin, who serves on the church’s outreach and evangelism team. The program works in partnership with Vestavia Hills Elementary East.

“East has been sort of our pilot program,” Alvey said. “If Ascension was a house, we would be zoned for East.”

In addition, Alvey knew the school’s vice principal, Cindy Echols, who served with him on Team Hunger.

The goal is to provide nutritious foods that are easy to prepare and that kids can take home for the weekend when they are not in school and able to access the cafeteria.

East counselors can identify which students are on subsidized or free meal plans, provide numbers to the church and discreetly dole out the meals.

“Because everyone qualified for free lunch this year through the federal relief program, (school counselors) couldn’t identify who was going to be eligible or would really be in need of this service,” Alvey said.

Journal photos by Jordan Wald

On May 13, local food trucks and about 600 guests gathered at the church to celebrate Ascension Day and to support the church’s Backpack Program. Above, from left: Anna, John, Amelia and Sara Manasco with Celeste, Lawson, Beckham and Marshall Eppley.

Ella and Anna Gentry.

Pearl Ennis and Ridley Tate Box. Mark, Ellie and Colby Welch.

Norah, Natalie, Baker and Clark Battle.

FOODIE NEWS

Gorgeous Gathering Place

Tasting TBL’s Owners to Turn Historic Rucker Place Into Multidimensional Eatery

T Squared Holdings LLC has purchased Historic Rucker Place in Five Points South with the intention of creating a new, multifaceted high-end restaurant.

Rucker Place originally was built in 1900 as a family home and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The property’s previous owners, Jack and Gail Thompson, operated the space as an event venue following an extensive renovation in 2002.

According to a release, the home was purchased for $1.22 million, and the new owners intend to invest another estimated $2 million in the space.

The release states that the restaurant will be transformed into a multidimensional concept, including a traditional restaurant and bar, a latenight bar and an al fresco event space.

“This will be unique because of five distinct brand offerings that operate out of the same ‘cloud kitchen’,” said executive chef and new co-owner of Rucker Place, Tyler Lyne, who also co-owns Tasting TBL supper club. “The menu concept centers around classic culinary techniques and dishes enjoyed in thriving epicurean cities.”

There are also plans to create a patisserie and cafe that will serve breakfast and lunch, provide a catering service and accommodate meal delivery for businesses and families.

Lyne has teamed up with co-owner Tim Owens, a native of Texas who recently moved to Birmingham.

“I have loved Birmingham, and the people here have been so welcoming,” Owens said. “We knew we wanted to be somewhere in the South and we needed a metro area of at least 1 million people to support this kind of concept.

“When we came to visit for the first time, we immediately knew Birmingham was where we wanted to be. What sold it for us was the beautiful culture we found here and how the people treated us — like they had known us for years, extending the most genuine hospitality we had ever felt.”

Owens said the vision for the restaurant is for it to become an integral part of the Birmingham community, “whether guests want to dine in with us, stop by for a quick pastry, or order our catering or meal delivery. We’re also happy that Rucker Place will continue to serve as a gorgeous gathering place where Birminghamians can mark special occasions, connect over food and drink, and make amazing memories together.” —Emily Williams-Robertshaw

FOOD TRUCK

From page

Next year looks to be a bit smoother and the program will resume its intended service. There are even plans to provide advertisements for the program at registration.

Sponsors Needed

Those who support the program, whether businesses, individuals or other organizations, can sponsor a child. It takes just $288 to sponsor a child for a year, which provides food packs worth $8 each given over 36 Fridays of the school year.

Each meal pack includes two breakfast items, two lunch entrees, one serving of fruit, one serving of dairy, one to three other healthy snacks and one family meal item.

Alvey and his fellow church staff members and parish are hoping to see the program expand beyond both their walls and the walls of East.

“We’ve already had people contact us from other churches and other community leaders who want to be a part of this,” Alvey said.

“My real hope is that this is sort of a communitywide program that other churches and even business start to participate in.”

He envisions situations such as the church sponsoring one week of meals, then a local business taking on another week and so on.

“It’s a really cool way to bring the community together with a common goal, especially getting the churches together,” Alvey said. “I think everyone, or at least most people, can get behind the idea of feeding children in the community.”

To donate and stay updated, visit ascensionepiscopal.dioala.org.

Ready to Grow

Jones Valley Teaching Farm Raising Support for New Community Learning Center

Jones Valley Teaching Farm has launched its Ready to Grow campaign to raise money to complete The Center for Food Education, a community hub to be built on its downtown teaching farm.

The multiuse facility, tentatively slated to open this summer, will allow the farm to reach more students, teachers and surrounding community members to create a hub around food, education, health and youth employment.

The center will position Birmingham as a national leader and model for food-based education and workforce development, according to a statement issued by the farm.

The Ready to Grow campaign is designed to engage the Birmingham community in outfitting the center with the tools it needs and to allow residents to invest in the farm’s mission through tangible donations.

Anchoring the campaign launch is the debut of the farm’s Ready to Grow website, found at ready2grow.org. Donors can browse the website’s online catalog and choose to donate funds toward specific items, such as fruit trees for the orchard, appliances for the culinary studio or tables for the greenhouse.

Items range in price from $25 to $2,000, and donors may give a gift of any amount to support the center’s

Photo courtesy

Jones Valley Teaching Farm Executive Director Amanda Storey.

greatest needs. The Ready to Grow public campaign aims to raise $200,000 to support completion of the Center.

“Our 5-year dream to build our future – The Center for Food Education – is now a reality thanks to the support of our many partners,” said Jones Valley Teaching Farm Executive Director Amanda Storey. “However, it takes a village to build out the entirety of this project. We now are calling on our Birmingham neighbors to help us bring the center to completion by filling the classrooms, gardens and learning areas.

“Our goal is for this center to serve Birmingham as a whole, and we are inviting our fellow community members to be part of this future from the start, in whatever way they can,” she continued.

The center, at 701 25th St. N in downtown Birmingham, will accommodate daily field trips and Good School Food instruction, community gardening and culinary programming, quality and affordable fresh produce, increased employment and training opportunities for graduates of Birmingham City Schools, and professional development and training for teachers.

For more information about Jones Valley Teaching Farm, visit jvtf.org. —Virginia Martin

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