As Thanksgiving approaches, people faced with the harsh reality of food insecurity. While the holiday traditionally features a variety of food and desserts, some do not have access to the bare minimum, let alone a Thanksgiving meal. Fresh Gatherings Cafe and Farm, a student-run cafe located on Saint Louis University’s medical campus, is doing its part to help alleviate the pressure a lack of money places on students when it comes to buying groceries and other necessities. 

Fresh Gatherings hopes to earn a large amount of money through their Thanksgiving sale and donate a portion of the proceeds to SLU’s student food pantry, Billiken Bounty. For the past few years, Fresh Gatherings has been selling an array of foods for Thanksgiving, including pies, whole turkeys and rolls. This year they are also featuring homemade tortillas, masa, milk rolls and mole rojo.

While fresh and quality food has been the mission of Fresh Gatherings for years, their dedication to directly supporting Billiken Bounty is relatively new. Fresh Gatherings’ motto is “We got you because we care,” and demonstrating this, they’re ensuring that Billiken Bounty has funds to help students in need. Senior nutrition and dietetics culinary students, Katelyn Gasperlin and Olga Goumas, claim that the partnership just made sense. 

Gasperlin explained that one of their workers actually helped found Billiken Bounty and allowed the collaboration to begin. 

“We just wanted to support our community in the way we know how, and that’s through quality food,” Goumas says. 

Fresh Gatherings Cafe and Farm has a long history of partnering with small and local vendors in order to create inspired and innovative food. Their Thanksgiving sale is no exception. 

The biggest holiday hit on the menu is Fresh’s homemade pumpkin pie. Locally sourced down to the whipped topping, 100 of the proceeds will be given to Billiken Bounty. According to Gasperlin and Goumas, this sale proved successful last year. “We sold 125 pies, and that ended up totaling around $1,800,” Goumas explained. As the holiday season nears, Billiken Bounty is constantly looking for and accepting new donations, so every amount helps. 

Fresh Gatherings Cafe and Farm’s pie sale is a testament to their care for the community and allows everyone to help alleviate food insecurity on SLU’s campus. “If you’re driving home for Thanksgiving and you want to help your family out, maybe get a pie. Give back a little,” says Gasperlin. 

Fresh Gatherings Cafe and Farm is making giving back as easy as pie.