The not-for-profit Fork Real Café in Rapid City is again inviting the community to come share a holiday meal, and as always, it’s pay what you can even if you can’t.

Fork Real Café started seven years ago when a Rapid City family Rhonda and Dave Pearcy had a vision to fill a need for food security in our community.

Fork Real has granted a local teen a birthday wish, allowing her to come in and be a guest chef and prepare a meal for her family and friends..

Rhonda Pearcy, owner, and founder of Fork Real Community Café was recently interviewed for the Lay the Course Podcast, a podcast featuring women in business, who are pursuing their life’s passion through their work.

A Rapid City business is getting into the holiday spirit by offering warm Thanksgiving meals to anyone who needs them. Tuesday through Friday, Fork Real Café serves people who “pay what they can.” Which means people can pay it forward or volunteer for their food.

When customers come in to dine at the cafe, they can pay for the value of the meal, volunteer for a meal, or pay it forward, by paying a little extra or paying in full for someone else’s meal. “Anyone and everyone who comes through the doors has the same opportunity to receive a nutritious meal,” said Pearcy.

As a former school teacher, Executive Director of the Fork Real Community Cafe, Rhonda Percy is knows the stress that back to school preparations can be for educators and school staff. So the cafe decided to provide meals to the staff in the Rapid City School District, to show there appreciation for the educators.

Volunteers from the Fork Real Cafe and Fountain Springs Community Church are in the process of delivering free meals to nearly 1,500 school staff members as schools prepare to start classes on Sept. 8.