We are kicking off For the Next 10!

Support our fundraising campaign & help keep Asheville Poverty Initiative around for the NEXT 10 YEARS!

Hi friends,

Did you know that 2026 marks 10 years for Asheville Poverty Initiative and our two programs, 12 Baskets Café and Realities of Poverty education?

For the past decade, we’ve been humbled and grateful to grow this work alongside you. Every day, API pushes back against broken systems, injustice, misinformation, and the myth that there isn’t enough to go around.

We do that through simple but powerful acts: sharing meals, centering the stories and voices of neighbors with lived experience of poverty and homelessness, creating access to basic needs with dignity and respect, and building the kind of community that helps us live differently.

At API, we say community cures poverty. And for 10 years, this community has shown up. Volunteers, donors, businesses, neighbors, and friends have helped us prove that abundance is real, connection matters, and love is a force for change.

Now we’re looking ahead.

Today, we’re launching our “For the Next 10” campaign to help sustain and grow API’s work for the next decade.

We’ve grown because the needs around poverty, homelessness, and food insecurity have grown. But we’ve also grown because the need for human connection, dignity, and community is more urgent than ever.

We hope you’ll be part of what comes next.

Stay tuned this week for more about the campaign, or visit our website now to learn more and make a gift.

With gratitude, Ben