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Er’Body Eatz nonprofit group hosts inaugural community kickback event to feed everyone

By Faith Hatton, posted Jun 5, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

Logo provided by: Er’Body Eatz

Holding strong behind their mission that “we only win when everyone has a seat at the table,” Fayetteville based non-profit Er’Body Eatz has been working to ensure that everyone has access to food. 

“The goal is to raise awareness on food insecurity in lower income communities and essentially what we're doing is teaching fundamentals of urban gardening and homesteading,” shared Chef, CEO and Founder of Er'Body Eatz J’Kwan Fulmore. “The second half to that is teaching and demoing cooking classes so the communities can know what to do with the ingredients that we harvest.” 

After being conceptualized in 2021 by Fulmore and officially becoming a nonprofit organization in 2024, Er’Body Eatz looks to address food insecurity specific to Fayetteville and surrounding communities by finding local solutions through education and hands-on experiences. 

Chef, CEO and Founder of Er'Body Eatz J’Kwan Fulmore.
Photo by: Jamela A. Carter and provided by: Er’Body Eatz

Seeds have already been sown for their first phase; The Greenhouse Project. This features a fully operational greenhouse donated by Ramsey Street High School that is used to teach the fundamentals of gardening to the community. 

Recently, the latest batch of students comprised of the UKO Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority got to get their hands dirty in the greenhouse and get their first taste of urban homesteading.

“Essentially, the greenhouse really is to be an outdoor classroom for those in the community and the youth. We went over the stages of a plant's life, we had them sow some seeds, prune some of the plants, harvest some of the vegetables. We also sent them home with their own seeds to start in about 60 days,” said Fulmore. “We're going to go over the progress that they've made and the final goal would be to rent out a commercial kitchen and teach them how to cook using the ingredients that we were able to start sowing and planting on the day that they came in.” 

The greenhouse is just the start of what is a long term plan to educate and feed the community. Er’Body Eatz is looking to develop a community garden as a long term resource for people facing food insecurity in Fayetteville. 

“The community garden’s main purpose would be to be a resource for the community to come out and learn how to do fundamental gardening, but it would also create a shared sense of responsibility, reduce carbon footprint and encourage biodiversity,” said Fulmore. “It's supposed to be a place where we can all come together regardless of economic status, socio diversity, race or age. Just a place where we can all have a shared sense of responsibility for the nutritional economy within the area.” 

The community garden is a long term project in progress. Fulmore shared that for now, Er’Body Eatz is still looking for a space and fundraising through donations and grants, but the goal is to be able to have the garden ready to seed by the spring of 2025. 

Fulmore shared that he is open to suggestions for plots of land that could eventually house the community garden. 

Monetary and item donations are still being accepted for the Er’Body Eatz inaugural event. 
Graphic provided by: Er’Body Eatz

As progress continues on the long term goals of the nonprofit, Er’Body Eatz is also gearing up to officially introduce itself to the community through their upcoming Community Kickback Event taking place on Saturday, June 8, from 12 p.m. - 5 p.m.

This event will be held at the Crown Coliseum VIP Parking Lot located at 1960 Coliseum Drive in Fayetteville and will be the perfect opportunity to put their mission to feed the hungry to work by offering free food, along with music and vendors. 

“This is just our introduction into the world as a nonprofit organization. I grew up here in Fayetteville, so I felt like it would just be appropriate to have our kickoff party in the same area that raised me. That's the driving force behind it, that's why the cookout is free to the public. It's just something for us all to come by and serve as a celebratory event for us actually being here, said Fulmore.

Monetary and item donations are being accepted for the Community Kickback. The following items are still being accepted up to the day of the event: 

Vendor spaces are still available as well for local organizations or merchants and volunteers are also needed. 

“The more the merrier! It's open to the public, it's free to the public so the more food we have available, the better,” shared Fulmore. “The only thing with the vendors is that if you want to come and set up a table marketing your organization or things of that sort, there is no fee. But if you are a vendor coming to sell merchandise, it is a $75 vendor fee. That fee would just be submitted to the GoFundMe page as well.” 

Anyone wishing to donate monetarily can do so on the Er’Body Eatz GoFundMe page here. 

Vendors who wish to participate in the Community Kickback, or anyone who would like to donate items or volunteer can email erbodyeatz@gmail.com to get registered. 

The community is also welcome to follow along with Er’Body Eatz on their Facebook here for the latest developments. 

“Our goal is not only to serve the Fayetteville and Hope Mills areas, food insecurity occurs everywhere. I've traveled all over the country in the last decade and I'd love to set up resources everywhere that I've been in, even in places that I hadn't been yet,” concluded Fulmore.

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