Kristi Martin launched Feast for Good to provide meals for cancer patients. Photo by Mimi McLeod.

“I got a second chance at life and I thought, ‘What do I do now?'”

Feast for Good Executive Director Kristi Martin spent most of her professional life providing unique culinary experiences. First, planning wedding, corporate, and social events for Westin Hotels, then as the owner of FEAST Food Tours, which took its participants on walking restaurant tours in the city’s key food neighborhoods. The company received annual Certificates of Excellence from TripAdvisor, as well as national attention from Southern Living, Fodor’s, Huffington Post, and others.

Martin had to undergo a bone marrow stem cell transplant and was grateful for those who provided meals to her during recovery. Photo courtesy

Then came December 26, 2018 and a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia followed by a rare blood mutation which required a bone marrow stem cell transplant.

A long process of treatments followed. During that time, friends and friends of friends supported Martin and her husband Shane with gifts of food and financial support. Martin documented the entire process, the good days and bad, via a Facebook group. After a two-and-a-half year journey, tests showed she was finally free of leukemia with no further signs of the mutation.

By the time she was healthy enough to go back to work, the pandemic had cut its swath through the restaurant industry, putting food tours on hiatus for the foreseeable future.

“I’ve always been in the hospitality industry, and I still wanted to remain in service,” Martin says. As she was pondering what’s next, an idea came from an unexpected source.

“I had lunch with someone who is involved with cancer nonprofits, and she mentioned one of the big needs was finding someone to feed cancer patients, and the lightbulb went on,” Martin says. “I thought about my own journey. When I was sick, Piedmont Culinary Guild arranged a meal train for me. It was so beneficial — and I had a very good support system already in place. What about those who don’t? I thought with my experience and food connections, this is something I could do.”

This is where her years of experience and organizational skills kicked in. Martin started planning in April 2021. By September, Feast for Good was formally incorporated. By December, it became a certified 501c3 nonprofit.

The mission of Feast for Good is to organize and expedite local food resources to nourish cancer patients, delivering local meals to those actively undergoing treatments with limited or no access to a support system.

“We are focusing on people who don’t have the financial means, or even logistical means,” Martin says. “Many patients are coming into Charlotte for treatments and staying in hotels with no way to prepare food, even if they were physically able. Feast for Good is trying to bring comfort to those who really need it.”

There’s also a side mission. Martin still has a strong desire to tell Charlotte culinary stories. “That was part of the mission of FEAST. Why can’t we do that as well here? I’m trying to find all the angles. I want Charlotte to endorse the places giving back to the community.”

To do so, Feast for Good is developing a network of local Charlotte restaurants, personal chefs, and food artisans to participate in the program, either directly with food deliveries or via fundraisers. “A lot of nonprofits get just about all of their funds from a single annual fundraiser,” Martin says. “The pandemic showed me that might not be a good idea. I want to build a continual coalition from individual donations and local business involvement.”

Feast for Good’s first client, Desmond, enjoys Awo’s Catering. Photo courtesy

Several Charlotte food businesses have already jumped on board. Haberdish made Feast for Good the beneficiary of its May “Karma Cocktail” program. NoDa Brewing Co. donated $1 for every pint sold May 4. On July 11, Ace No. 3 donated 20 percent of its evening sales. Through the end of July, Common Market’s Oakwold (Monroe Road) location has designated Feast for Good as the nonprofit benefitting from this month’s “Sammies for a Cause.”

Sea Level NC is also currently conducting a fundraiser for Feast for Good with its new “Rising Tide” program. Patrons can participate by ordering this month’s Rising Tide Cocktail, a mezcal negroni, or by adding a donation to their check.

Several more businesses will be having fundraising events in the coming months.

In June, Feast for Good began serving its first patient, Desmond, currently receiving chemo treatments at Atrium’s Levine Cancer Institute. He is currently wheelchair bound with no caregiver or other support system. “We asked him what he wanted. He said ‘West African food.’ We hooked him up with Awo’s Catering,” Martin says. “He was skeptical we’d find authentic food, but watching him enjoy every last morsel and saying ‘this is tasty’ put smiles on everyone’s faces.”

Currently, Feast for Good is handling one patient at a time as they develop working procedures. For now, referrals are coming exclusively from the social workers at Levine.

Martin herself is currently celebrating three years of remission, but still getting tested every three months.

As for her diagnosis and treatment? “It feels like a blip on the radar,” she says.