A Eugene couple who began offering free food nearly a year ago are readying to open a community café with similar goals of addressing food insecurity. They’re hoping to offer more than a meal.
Miranda Keever and Corey Prunier started Lunch People shortly after losing their restaurant jobs because of the pandemic. Keever was a bartender and Prunier was a chef.
Every Saturday at Acorn Park they served hundreds of meals with the help of fellow volunteers. Then one day Keever saw an opportunity to expand, a location on Monroe Street in Eugene became available to lease.
“We were constantly reminded of the way that just serving people free food is not enough to help people pay their bills, or learn how to cook better, or feed their families or support them in all the other ways that people need support beyond food,” Keever said.
Keever said their aim is to become a hub for services like job training for youth as well as selling plant-based meals. They’ll give customers the option to overpay to fund programs and continue serving free meals.
They've since aquired 267 Monroe Sreet and are currently renovating the space , which has a full kitchen, with a plan to open the Lunch People Community Café this Spring. They're currently in their first phase of fundraising with a goal of reaching $15,000 via a GoFundMe campaign.
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