There’s no doubt about it: Marcy Bishop Kates loves to feed people. In fact, it was during a casual conversation with her friend and fellow foodie Randy Bell about how much they love preparing breakfast when the two cooked up a plan to use food to for a good cause. The Nourish Network is a new program organized by Bell and Kates, the owner of the new Holt kitchen incubator,
Incu-BaKe, that seeks to raise funds for area nonprofits by offering donations-only community breakfasts.
“He had mentioned the
Selma Café in Ann Arbor,” says Kates of Bell. “He said, ‘we need to copy this.’ We have a social entrepreneur mindset here at Incu-BaKe, so I’ve always wanted to do stuff like this for the community.”
The first Nourish Network breakfast took place at Incu-BaKe in April. Area farms and food suppliers donated the ingredients, and about ten volunteers helped to prepare, set up and serve the food. Kates estimates between 30 and 40 attendees came to enjoy the breakfast casseroles and homemade cinnamon rolls, $461 was raised for local food banks.
“It was the best day,” says Kates. “My feet didn’t touch the floor for the entire day.”
Kates was also able to donate the leftover food to Food Gatherers, maximizing the impact of every donation and volunteer effort. Kates and Bell intend to host the Nourish Network breakfasts quarterly at the beginning, but hope to grow it into a monthly event.
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