Support Mean Pies Pizza in Feeding the Community Again

There's no good or easy way to say any of this, and many more have said it better than I ever could, but I'll give it a try.

Mean Pies Pizza has existed in various ways since 2020 (our first pop up was during the Pandemic, in Philadelphia), and first found a home in Asheville with OWL bakery. In 2023 we started working with Pleb Urban Winery, down in the River Arts District, and it felt like a fantastic fit. We immediately loved the crew, their vision, and how they treated people. We had a new home.

For 11 wild months we made food we believed in, in less than ideal circumstances. Temperatures fluctuated greatly, between 8 and 105 degrees F, which, frankly, is bananas. I'm still amazed we were able to keep the dough close enough to a happy 75 F to do service. There was never enough room, and we worked 50+ hours a week just to open the two and half days that we did. It was probably stupid, but we were scrappy, and we loved it. We loved serving y’all so, so much. We loved making weird specials. We loved seeing people drink the wine at Pleb, enjoy the space, become regulars. It made me feel closer to this town than I ever have.

The flood took all of that away from so many people. In the Foundy area alone, Pleb, Level 42, The Marquee, New Stock Pantry, Grail MovieHouse, Rosabee's, The Wedge, 12 Bones, Summit Coffee, VJ’s Auto, Gourmand, and countless artists, makers, creators, lost everything they had. In some cases, that includes the whole building. It is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever experienced. But of course this affected so many more people, in far stretching areas. Marshall, Chimney Rock, Burnsville, and many other smaller towns have suffered immense devastation. My heart goes out to and aches for all of you/them.

So many amazing people have already started to search for the missing, heal the wounded, clean, and rebuild where and when possible. We don't know the full extent of the destruction, but fantastic humans are shining good light into dark spaces.

Many have asked how they can help from afar, where they can donate. I would start with the grassroots organizations that were already doing great work, and have tremendously stepped up:

BeLoved Asheville

Southside Community Farm

Rural Organizing and Resilience

Hearts with Hands

Pansy Collective

Asheville Survival Program / Appalachian Medical Solidarity

A quick google will take you to each of their pages and give you their preferred way of donating. They will use the money incredibly well and get it to the people that deeply need it.

As for us, we lost everything physical in the flood. But the recipes are in our heads (and thankfully google drive - my brain ain't so great, especially these days), and the feel is in our hands. We can't get all the same ingredients, and cannot replace all of our tools, but we can get close.

For now the crew is scattered, taking care of themselves, their homes, their loved ones, the community, and trying to repair and rebuild. Truthfully, I don't know what the future of Mean Pies looks like. I know for now we would like to feed some people, and in order to do that we will need to buy all new gear and ingredients. As far as lost wages, sure, that is a huge hit, but that's a secondary concern right now. Our immediate future is that we want to take care of our community. Luckily, I am able to hold out for a little bit before it gets unsustainable, so I will take that time to try to do good things. Further in the future, and so very unclear and murky, is the idea of what the next version of Mean Pies might look like. I just really don't know right now.

So, should you be in the beautiful position to support both the above, more deserving mutual aid groups, and also want to help us out, we will humbly (and uncomfortably, but thankfully) welcome your support. First, we will use it to get what we need to start making food, and then we will make food. If there's an excess, we can cover some lost wages, and if there's an embarrassment of riches, we can support our favorite groups, and put some towards some form of next steps. If you have a specific way you would like the money to be used, please do tell us. We want your money to fund whatever part of this current plan feels best to you.

Thank you for reading all of this. Thank you for caring about our little Pizza Dream. Thank you for supporting us over the last few years. Thank you for taking care of Appalachia. Thank you for helping us repair. Thank you for helping us rebuild.

Huge Love & So Much Pizza (hopefully),

PJ & Mean Pies Pizza