A Message from API’s Co-Chairs, Michael Poulos and Kim Wells:
Spring is in full swing, and just as there are new blooms and new growth all around us, so is API growing and thriving in new and changing ways. You will see below that Emily Fox, one of our Co-Directors, is announcing her resignation. While of course we are sad to see such a beloved and invaluable staff member leave, we are extremely grateful that her faithful and visionary work over the last several years has brought us successfully through two major staffing transitions and has helped us establish our Co-Director model, which really lifts up one of our core values–mutuality. Emily leaves having put us on solid ground for moving forward.
You will also see below a message from Melva Lowry, our other Co-Director, who has hit the ground running since she began last fall. We are grateful that Melva is providing excellent leadership and has already been able to build strong relationships across our API community. We are looking forward to the ways we will continue to grow with the support of her gifts.
We will keep you posted as staffing plans “post-Emily” evolve. In the meantime, there are many ways to be involved in the work of API! We are proud that throughout the pandemic, we have continued to provide ways for the members of our community to connect and be involved. As we move into a new season, these opportunities will continue to grow. Thank you for your support!
A Message from Emily Fox:
It is a beautiful thing to be part of the community at 12 Baskets Cafe, and to hold space for dialogue with our Educators and students in the Realities of Poverty Education program. While I have always shown up in a staff capacity, I have learned and grown and been supported by the community that is Asheville Poverty Initiative. So it is with both gratitude and sadness that I am writing to let you know that I will be leaving my position as Co-Director as of June 3.
It has been an honor to work over the past five years with API through program growth, coalition work, and especially to be trusted in my leadership during the transition from our founding director, Shannon, to a co-director model and serve alongside Melva Lowry. I feel so much pride when thinking about how API has been able to show up for the community during the pandemic by keeping our 12 Baskets Cafe program running. To everyone who made that happen, including our kitchen manager Donna and Cafe volunteers, y’all are rock stars! Recognizing and celebrating each of us with our own unique gifts is the heart of building community and promoting economic justice at Asheville Poverty Initiative.
So when I say I am leaving my position as Co-Director with API, it comes from a place of love and gratitude for everyone who makes API’s work possible. It comes from a place of knowing that we have the leadership we need to move forward and grow as an organization, and that there is space for me to step back and pursue a new path. I believe we chose the right person when we welcomed Melva Lowry as Co-Director eight months ago, and I’ll confess I will miss working with her, Donna, our Educators, and the 12 Baskets community. I leave feeling confident that my work here is done and that API is set to move on successfully into the future.
Just as so many organizations and community programs are shifting through pandemic recovery, API is growing and forming anew with fresh leadership while continuing to spread the magic we all have felt at the Cafe, the magic of mutuality, abundance, and justice. API will always hold a special place in my heart and I am excited to see where we go from here!
A Message from Melva Lowry:
I am grateful for Emily! It is not easy to step up and lead an organization through change, much less the constant changes the pandemic created. Emily has been a great teacher in helping me learn and navigate API and Asheville. She has become not just a colleague in this work, but a friend and I celebrate the energy and love she has for API and her journey forward.
For those of us who include scripture in our daily lives, the commonly used Isaiah 43 text about God doing new things is a good go to, but for API especially, what does it mean to be in old spaces with new things, with major changes happening around you? It can be easy to think about all the ways we used to do things and the memories and experiences we had prior to all the changes. So how do we come back to what is old in a new way with another change happening? The first answer is, together.
Over the past 8 months Emily and I worked closely together with staff and the board. Since day one, Emily and I talked about ways to get our social media ramped up and have been excited that Maekala Mims started working in the cafe and volunteered her expertise. Hopefully you have noticed an increase in our social media postings. We realized with our Board that the strategic plan was completed right at the beginning of the pandemic so messaging is key. You may have noticed that we have begun posting our guiding principles. Please share our page on Facebook with your community. Also, follow us on Instagram and we may add Tik Tok to our repertoire soon!
We know there is still a lingering virus and nervousness about folks coming out into large crowds. As we navigate what is needed in our current model and what will be needed as we move on, know that your involvement and support is still needed.
Ways You Can Be Involved:
➢ Right now, we are fundraising at the cafe to offset some costs for the garden as it grows and begins to bloom. We are organizing this space in hopes for providing outdoor dining when we begin serving meals again.
➢ Coffee in the garden is popular! We are in need of disposable coffee and water cups, powdered creamer, and sugar in bulk. As well as a constant supply of to go containers, paper towels, and cleaning supplies.
➢ Deep cleaning at least once a month is needed. If you would like to get a small group together to clean when the cafe is closed, please reach out to us to schedule.
➢ Sharing API with friends and family. It is time to spread the word of all the beautiful things API has done over the years. Come by and have coffee or get reiki in the garden.
➢ We need more sustaining donors giving $10-200 a month to keep us growing forward. Our current monthly rent and utilities alone costs $2,500. Consider a monthly gift, increasing your gift incrementally year to year. Talk with your financial advisor about adding us to your IRA annual contribution or as a charitable beneficiary as part of your estate planning. You can contact our treasurer at accounting@ashevillepovertyinitiative.org to assist you with details.
I know if we stay committed to the mission and work that drew us to be a part of the API community, we will see many more wonderful and great things. Thank you for your support.
Go to www.ashevillepovertyinitiative.org/donate and click the donate button to donate or setup a monthly donation through PayPal (PayPal account not required).