Coalition for a Hunger Free Boyle County

Exciting News!

It has been a long time since you have heard from us. The Board paused Grace Café in June 2020. Due to the closing of the café and COVID, we allocated the necessary time to resolve unemployment issues. Thankfully, we are now able to move forward.

Grace is going to look a little different. Rochelle Bayless has moved on from the organization and Jennifer Earle is the new Executive Director. As you may know, she had been the Business Manager at Grace since March 2015. Out of conversations with community stakeholders and the Board, we are excited to announce our new mission, which builds upon the success of our earlier work:

To increase food security in the Danville community by providing access to healthy food on a pay what you can basis.

At this point, Grace Café will not have a permanent location. Our vision is to be more mobile and establish partnerships in the community. In December 2021, Grace started a new project with Beacon Youth Services at Danville High School. Students come hungry to the Beacon every day, looking for a snack. Snacks had been provided at various times during the pandemic, but aren’t available anymore. Grace Café is filling that gap and has provided over 1,700 snacks to students so far.

Because the need for snacks was so high at Danville High School, Grace launched an after-school snack program in January. Each week students can sign up for a snack bag, where they can select from a variety of sandwiches, with chips and two healthy sides. The Presbyterian Church of Danville has graciously let us use their kitchen to pack and we have some amazing volunteers helping. Currently, this is provided to students one day per week. The program has reached 94 different students.

We are in the process launching another project in the community to fulfill our mission. We are excited to announce more details in the coming weeks. We are starting small but making a big impact. It is exciting to reimagine what Grace Café can be in the future!

Thank you for your support of Grace Café throughout the years. Because of your investment, we are able fund these new projects to create food security for the residents and students of Danville and Boyle County. If you have any questions about our work in the community and our new direction, please contact us.

We look forward to working together as we advance the work of Grace in our community.

Jennifer Earle
Executive Director