Every Wednesday at 3:25 p.m., Danville High School students swarm the four foldable tables set up outside of the fishbowl office, clamoring for their “snack bag.” These brown paper bags, filled with sandwiches, chips, mandarin oranges, and more, are custom-made for any student who signs up. This is one of multiple programs made possible by the nonprofit organization called Grace Café.
Grace Café was originally founded by Rochelle Bayless in 2014 as a pay-what-you-can restaurant in Danville. The nutritious, freshly made and locally-sourced meals were available to anyone who walked in the door. This was made possible by the pay-what-you-can business model, where the meals do not have a set price and customers instead have the option to choose to pay the recommended price, to “pay it forward” by paying a bit extra or to volunteer for 30 minutes for a free meal.
The delicious meals in combination with the flexible payment options led Grace Café to become a highly-valued piece of the Danville community. After five years and over 80,000 meals served (according to Grace Café, Inc.), this highly-esteemed, in-person restaurant was forced to shut down at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, 2020 did not mark the end of Grace Café’s story. The organization continued to find ways to serve the community, starting with helping its youth. The organization did so by founding the weekly snack bag program in 2022 by Jennifer Earle.
This program was founded in order to give any and all Danville High School students a free way to consume a hearty snack after school. All a student has to do to get a custom-made snack bag is to fill out their order on this Google Form, which is open at the beginning of each school week. On the form, a student customizes their snack bag. They choose from a variety of sandwiches (including the popular ham and cheese) along with additional snacks (such as chips, cheese sticks, granola bars and mandarin oranges).
In any given week, 90 to 100 students are expected to sign up for a snack bag. These orders are made possible through a team of generous community volunteers, who meet every Wednesday to make sandwiches and pack the bags. This program has seen immense success during its two years of activity and is beloved by Danville High School’s students.
Beyond snack bags, the Grace organization has recently found a new way to serve its community. Just four years after the closing of Grace Café’s brick-and-mortar establishment, the restaurant is up and running again, but this time, it is functioning as a food truck. Led by Earle, the Grace organization purchased a trailer to be the food truck for Grace on the Go.
Grace on the Go operates similarly to the original Grace Café in that it uses the same pay-what-you-can method of purchasing food, though the mobile aspect makes Grace on the Go unique from the original establishment.
(Mahala Pierce)
Grace on the Go opened in November 2024 and has since set up locations at the Boyle County Public Library, Michael M. Smith Park, Jenny Rogers Community Center, Calvary Baptist Church and more. Earle, the founder of Grace on the Go, said she was excited to be able to serve more people this way — the more locations they can visit, the wider of a customer base they can reach. They expect 20-60 customers each time they set up, with more people expected in the warmer months.
If interested in supporting this organization, the food truck’s setup locations and menu on the Grace on the Go website. You can donate to this nonprofit organization beloved by Danville High School students and community members alike.
