BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Dignity and wellness access for underserved populations Welcome to the fourth installment of The Optimist Daily’s Annual Local Changemakers series. Over five weeks, we’re spotlighting ten extraordinary individuals and organizations transforming their communities with compassion, creativity, and resilience. This week, we highlight changemakers who are restoring dignity through wellness, nourishment, and care for those who need it most. Join us in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where one woman’s life-altering trauma gave rise to a vibrant, community-led wellness movement nourishing thousands. From trauma to transformation: the beginnings of Bounty & Soul Before she founded a nonprofit that now nourishes 850 families a week, Ali Casparian’s dreams were rooted in food. As a young girl, she found joy in the kitchen with her Armenian grandmother and in the garden with her grandfather. She wanted to become a chef, but at the time, her parents didn’t approve of that path. So, she pivoted away from culinary school, earned a degree in human resource management, and built a 25-year career in the food industry. Still, something was missing. Behind her professional success was a deep sense of loneliness and burnout. Then, in 2011, everything changed. Casparian survived a brutal domestic assault that left her hospitalized for months. Forced to start over after this traumatic event, she began to see the world and her purpose in it with new clarity. “All of a sudden, everything seemed different in a good way,” she told Black Mountain News. “The flowers were brighter and the colors were brighter. The sounds were louder. I felt a deeper empathy.” She walked away from her old life, her career, her home, and her city. To recenter, she spent time with family in Raleigh before moving to western North Carolina, where she would begin a revolutionary new chapter. A table, a welcome, and a seed When she arrived in Black Mountain, Casparian was rebuilding her life from scratch. She cleaned houses to make ends meet and searched for connection. That search led her to the Welcome Table at St. James Episcopal Church, a community meal where she eventually began volunteering. One day, she spotted a surplus of fresh fruits and vegetables at a nearby food bank, and it dawned on her that this perfectly good food would be discarded or given to livestock. In a moment of inspiration Casparian arranged for the produce to be brought to Welcome Table, where she set up a small table of her own so people could take what they needed. But for Casparian, it was never just about the food. “I always had to prove that I was poor,” she recalled of past experiences seeking help. “It was awful… So what was important to me was that everybody would feel loved and accepted and included, and they wouldn’t feel any shame.” From that one table grew Bounty & Soul: a nonprofit that, from its inception, has prioritized nourishment not just of the body but of the whole self. Food access with a soul-centered approach Incorporated in 2014, Bounty & Soul offers free, fresh produce and wellness education through weekly drive-thru markets that serve up to 850 families. But the programming goes much deeper than access to food. Every element of Bounty & Soul is designed to foster connection, dignity, and empowerment. Classes are co-created with community input and have ranged from yoga and diabetes prevention to financial literacy and parenting support. Participants are called “friends” instead of clients or recipients, and they are encouraged to volunteer, contribute ideas, and be part of shaping the space. Bounty & Soul Volunteers. Photo courtesy of Bounty & Soul. Bounty & Soul Kid’s Cooking Class. Photo courtesy of Bounty & Soul. The work is intensely personal for Casparian, who often speaks about how the organization’s evolution mirrored her own healing journey. In the early days, she lived in what she called a one-room “chicken coop.” Now, she leads a respected nonprofit that has distributed millions of pounds of produce, formed partnerships with health systems, schools, and farms, and is currently seeking to launch a permanent wellness hub. Expanding impact, deepening roots As Bounty & Soul has grown, so has its reach. Development Director Laila, shared with The Optimist Daily that, as of this month, Bounty & Soul has: Served 251,228 individuals Provided 1,807,786 pounds of produce Invested $930,305 into the local food system through produce purchases Offered (and continue to offer) 10 weekly no-cost community markets Logged approximately 11,000 volunteer hours with 175 volunteer slots each week It’s often in moments of crisis that Bounty & Soul’s work becomes especially vital and most deeply felt. When SNAP benefits were paused during the recent government shutdown, a woman on disability called the team in distress. Unsure of how she would get food that week, she reached out hoping for options. Bounty & Soul connected her to a market happening that same day, where she picked up fresh leafy greens, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and eggs. Overwhelmed with relief, she burst into tears. Encounters like these are a stark reminder that food insecurity isn’t a distant issue. Food insecurity is something that people in the community, friends, and neighbors are living with right now. Another woman, living with cancer, has been coming to the markets regularly since the spring. Following her doctor’s recommendation to increase fruits and vegetables to support her treatment, she relies on the Produce to the People program to make that possible while living on a fixed income. These are just a few of the quiet, everyday moments that show what “food is medicine” truly looks like, and why access, dignity, and consistency matter so much. Photo courtesy of Bounty & Soul. Growing together: from local farms to fermentation workshops Bounty & Soul also champions the local food economy, partnering with over 70 regional farms and growers. One local farm had a peach surplus at the end of summer. Bounty & Soul quickly arranged to purchase 600 pounds of the harvest, supporting the farmer’s income while delighting the community with ripe, juicy fruit. This type of reciprocal relationship strengthens the bond between people, land, and nourishment. The nonprofit’s holistic approach includes programs like Rooted in Health, which offers culturally relevant, community-designed education and wellness. One popular class, “Cooking for One,” was created to help solo-living individuals prepare fresh, easy meals. This winter, the organization will host a Holiday Fermentation Workshop with Meg Chamberlin, founder of Fermenti, teaching participants how to turn seasonal produce into probiotic-rich, preserved foods. From personal survival to collective thriving Ali Casparian doesn’t sugarcoat the pain that preceded her current path. But she also doesn’t dwell there. Instead, she channels her experience into action, co-creating a space where food is love, wellness is shared, and healing is possible. “If that didn’t happen … I wouldn’t be sitting here,” she said of her past. “And I wouldn’t be loved in the way I am loved or be able to offer and work within the community the way we work together collectively, which has been the greatest gift of my life.” Produce Market staff @ Bi-Lo. Photo courtesy of Bounty & Soul. Want to support Bounty & Soul? Visit their website: bountyandsoul.org Follow them on Instagram: @bounty_and_soul Donate or volunteer locally if you’re in the area The post How Ali Casparian turned food, healing, and heartbreak into a wellness movement first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.