Located on Dorchester Road in North Charleston, Destiny Community Cafe was the first pay-what-you-can restaurant in South Carolina when Regina Saunders started it in 2015. Today, thanks to support from volunteers and donations, they’re able to feed everyone who comes through their doors, promoting food equity and giving folks good healthy meals no matter their means.

   In addition to leveraging a $200 donation from Charleston Surf Rider to buy sustainable to-go ware, minimizing food waste, and donating their compost to local farms, Destiny has expanded their eco-efforts lately. They opened Da’ Gullah Garden last fall, an accessible green space addition to the Cafe. Their gardening practices include a focus on plant selection, soil health, integrated pest management, and rainwater catchments. Da’ Gullah Garden provides fresh herbs and produce for the Cafe’s seasonal menu, and also serves as an educational space -- the garden generates awareness of Gullah roots through heritage planting, and offers a therapeutic and instructional garden experience for the community.

  Destiny Community Cafe excels in their intersectional community work. The Cafe hosts job fairs, supplies a blessing box, partners with other nonprofits to provide meals for veterans and senior citizens, and hosts a community event around Da’ Gullah Garden every month. All that, and they keep up the hard work of running a restaurant! We’re thrilled to have such a holistic, equitable, and inspirational climate actor and eatery here in the Lowcountry, and we look forward to working on climate action and equity with the Cafe.