Constance (Connie) Gates completed her earthly life on October 19 after a short bout with advanced cancer.
A memorial service will be held on-line at 11:00 AM EST on Wednesday, October 21. Contact Henry Perry at hperry2@jhu.edu for further details. In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible gifts in Connie’s memory can be given to the Curryblossom Foundation, 244 Indian Trail Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA. At Connie’s request, one-half of these gifts will go to the Jamkhed Comprehensive Rural Health Project and the other half will be used to support feeding the hungry and different local groups doing peace and justice work. Gifts should be designated in memory of Connie Gates.
We believe that delicious, wholesome food is a human right
We believe that People are sacred and therefore committed to the critical work of nourishment
We believe that Places are sacred and therefore committed to transformatively impacting the culture, economy and resilience of our place
We believe that food is our language of love and accountability, and therefore we honor the truths and legacies of people and places through responsible and responsive navigation of the Curry Blossom Ecosystem
We believe in the inherent dignity of labor and therefore we are engaged in emerging economically just models of resourcing service, procuring food and supporting community nourishment
We believe in responsibly impacting the local economies, and therefore committed to building, sustaining and transforming the Curry Blossom Ecosystem
We believe in procuring, sourcing and cooking with local produce as part of our culinary cultural work and commitment to investing in the health, wellness and healing of our community
We believe in stewarding local food economies and therefore committed to making impact investments in food systems transformation in our city, state, and region
We believe that ethical leadership and public health must be the drivers of transforming food systems and therefore we are committed to investing in capacity building of the generations of now and tomorrow, and of our collaborators and across the food systems network
We believe in radical system change and therefore committed to stewardship of our natural resources and people
Some of what we do
Refugee Support Center
100 quarts of khichdi (rice and lentil dish) from by Vimala’s Café was distributed among other efforts of the Refugee Support Center
We have delivered 1600 meals to hospitals across North Carolina
When we delivered to the Hillsborough Campus and Tracy met me at the loading dock to pick up meals. He told me he hates masks because he cant see the smile on people faces and he can’t smile back. Tracy is a hero. His attitude and servant heart made my day. I can’t wait til I get to see Tracy again- without a mask, so I can shake his hand, and say ‘Thank You.’ What the North Carolina Healthcare Association Feeding the Soul Campaign is doing is changing lives.
Residents of Northside in Chapel Hill received hot meals on Good Friday, thanks to a collaboration between Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe’ and the Jackson Center
Red bliss potato gratin, soufflé sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, Easter ham, and just-baked buttermilk biscuits were menu highlights. “The really amazing thing about this partnership is that it is aimed to support elders across the community and to support one of the most incredible local restaurants we have in Vimala’s,” says Hudson Vaughan, director of the Jackson Center, which purchases a certain number of meals each week (120 on Good Friday), made possible by generous donations to both Vimala’s and the Jackson Center.
Vimala cooks, everybody eats
