How Restaurants Are Giving Back This Holiday Season | Eater
"Asheville chef and co-owner Katie Button emphasizes the social role of restaurants: “Restaurants are places where people can both celebrate and grieve, and come together in community.” After Hurricane Helene forced a temporary closure, she organized pintxos parties to bring joy back to the dining room, then teamed up with local chef Ashleigh Shanti (whose restaurant was also impacted) to raise funds. The collaboration culminated in a collaborative pintxos dinner at the re-opened restaurant, with proceeds used to assist employees affected during the closure. The fall release of Shanti’s cookbook, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, led the team to work with a local bookseller to sell copies at the restaurant — they sold out and the effort inspired many guests to donate to a relief fund via a QR code placed on each dining table. Button frames these efforts in mutual support: “We are a community of small Asheville businesses and entrepreneurs,” Button says. “People don’t have large, deep pockets, so we help each other however we can.”" - Kayla Stewart
