Food and Connection Series: The Cafe Fighting Food Insecurity with Kirsten Levitt
About this episode
Kirsten Levitt discusses the mission of Stone Soup Cafe and its role in addressing food insecurity through community engagement.
Pay What You Can is on the table today! On the fifth episode of our Food & Connection series, we're joined by Kirsten Levitt, Executive Director and Executive Chef of Stone Soup Cafe. Stone Soup Cafe is a nonprofit, pay-what-you-can community café in Greenfield, Massachusetts, dedicated to bringing people together through healthy, nourishing meals. Its mission is simple yet transformative: to ensure everyone has access to a meal regardless of their ability to pay, while fostering dignity, belonging, and food security within the community. Kirsten joins Ashley to share the mission and vision behind Stone Soup Cafe, exploring how its founders grounded the organization in the principles of Socially Engaged Buddhism. She discusses the community they've cultivated, the philosophy behind the café's mutual aid model, the impact of its solidarity workshops, and her vision for expanding this nonprofit. The result is a conversation that reminds us of the extraordinary power of a shared meal, and how something as simple as gathering around a table can help change the world. Throughout this series, we've explored how food can strengthen family bonds, connect complete strangers, and now…
People in this episode
Host: Âme Atendre
Guest: Kirsten Levitt
Topics covered
- food insecurity
- community
- nonprofit
- socially engaged Buddhism
- mutual aid
- solidarity workshops
Keywords
- food insecurity
- community café
- pay what you can
- mutual aid
- socially engaged Buddhism
- solidarity workshops
- nonprofit
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Stone Soup Cafe
Places: Greenfield, Massachusetts
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