Meet Nate Walls & Daymara Baker
Catering to the Needs of the Community
For the past 16 weeks, the owner of Secondhand Smoke BBQ and food activist, Nate Walls has been preparing and delivering free meals to families in low-income neighborhoods throughout the community. A full-time caterer by day, Nate calls the after-hours initiative 2ndHelping and describes the effort as a “labor of love”—an opportunity to check on and assist resource-strapped families facing the many challenges presented by the pandemic.
A community of support has rallied behind Nate’s leadership with volunteers showing up to help him prepare and deliver meals and donors offering resources, food donations and financial support. The support has allowed Nate to sustain the distribution of around 150 meals per week. Most recently, Jerrmy Gawthrop of Woodstone Pizza, who has had to temporarily shut down operations due to the pandemic, offered up the restaurant’s kitchen to help support and expand the feeding program.
A recent Facebook post seems to capture Nate’s feeling on this effort, “Shout out to everyone that believes in this crazy dream about feeding the underserved and pours into it with your heart…thank you a million times!”. If you would like to contribute to the COVID Emergency Meal Plan, visit the website below.
Rising up Together
When we last checked in on Daymara Baker, founder of Rockin’ Baker, the local bakery had launched the Rise Up campaign in response to COVID-19 and had already supplied local food banks, schools, and other organizations with a little over 20,000 servings of freshly-baked breads. As of this month, the bakery has distributed close to 70,000 servings! In fact, Rockin’ Baker has contributed directly to Nate Wall’s 2ndHelping effort.
This single campaign actually serves two causes. In addition to helping the region address food insecurity issues amplified by COVID-19, Rockin’ Baker continues to pursue its mission of empowering the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges. Daymara recently sat down with KLRC to discuss her vision for helping those who are on the spectrum, as well as feeding people in need. Check out the interview here. If you would like to contribute to the Rise Up campaign, visit the website below.
Rising up Together
When we last checked in on Daymara Baker, founder of Rockin’ Baker, the local bakery had launched the Rise Up campaign in response to COVID-19 and had already supplied local food banks, schools, and other organizations with a little over 20,000 servings of freshly-baked breads. As of this month, the bakery has distributed close to 70,000 servings! In fact, Rockin’ Baker has contributed directly to Nate Wall’s 2ndHelping effort.
This single campaign actually serves two causes. In addition to helping the region address food insecurity issues amplified by COVID-19, Rockin’ Baker continues to pursue its mission of empowering the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges. Daymara recently sat down with KLRC to discuss her vision for helping those who are on the spectrum, as well as feeding people in need. Check out the interview here. If you would like to contribute to the Rise Up campaign, visit the website below.
