A packed Jeep, a brand-new town, and the kind of fear that comes with starting life over from scratch. That’s where Ali Casparian’s story begins, and it’s also where a radically practical idea takes root: hunger relief can look like dignity, choice, and real community, not shame and scarcity.
We talk with Ali, founder and executive director of Bounty and Soul in Black Mountain, about the personal road that led her to Western North Carolina and into food insecurity and housing insecurity herself. From an immigrant family shaped by gardens and home cooking, she knows what nourishing food can do and what it feels like when fresh produce is out of reach. That lived experience becomes the blueprint for Bounty and Soul’s mission: connecting people to nutritious food, education, and community with compassion and love.
You’ll hear how one visit to MANNA FoodBank and a moment of seeing surplus produce sparks the first market, built with tables, baskets, and an intentional sense of beauty and abundance. We dig into why a farmers market style approach matters, how neighbors share what they receive, and what community strength looks like after major disruption, from the pandemic to a hurricane. We also talk mentors, the people who open doors when you’re exhausted, and why the cost of living, affordable housing, and even health insurance premiums are now inseparable from the conversation about food insecurity.
If this conversation shifts how you think about hunger relief in Asheville and across Western North Carolina, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s one local effort you’ve seen that protects dignity while meeting real needs?
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