The smell of sizzling burgers and fresh fries fills the neighborhood as folding tables are set up in a tent in the front yard. As walkers and cyclists pass the house, they’re greeted with a warm smile and an excited shout: “We have free hot food.”
The act of giving back to the community started as a mother’s form of behavioral discipline for her seven children.
Ashlee Graves, a 38-year-old mother of seven, has had her kids cook and pack food into brown paper bags since they were little. She would then drive them to less fortunate neighborhoods and give the food to people who were struggling.
Now, Graves and her 13-year-old daughter are giving back by using their passion and donations from strangers on Facebook to turn their mission into reality.
Together, they created the Have a Heart Kitchen outside of their East Gainesville home. For six months, they’ve served free food to anyone in their community who’s hungry, no questions asked.
About 15% of Alachua County residents — around 42,000 of the county’s roughly 280,000 residents — experienced food insecurity in 2023, meaning they did not always have reliable access to enough food for an active, healthy life, according to Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap.
The report estimates almost seven in 10 residents below the SNAP threshold faced food insecurity.
A light drizzle began as a young girl rode past on her bicycle.
Graves, as usual, called out, “Hey, we got free food.”
The girl hesitated, but turned around to ask, “Did you say free food?” When Graves confirmed she’d heard correctly, the girl broke down in tears.
As Graves prepared her plate, the girl opened up and thanked her. She told Graves she had been planning to ride her bike to her Wawa to steal something to eat.
It’s stories like this that allow Graves to reflect on how much of an impact she’s been able to make with Have a Heart Kitchen, she said.
“I have a heart for people,” Graves said.
As music plays, Graves fills each plate, making conversation as she greets regulars and newcomers. She likes to give them a chance to smile and laugh and offer them encouragement. Whether the line is one person or 10, Graves gives each the same, personalized attention.
If she and her family hadn’t moved to a neighborhood on East University Avenue a year ago, Graves said there'd be so many people she wouldn’t have met and stories she wouldn’t have heard.
Racheal Ortega learned about Have a Heart Kitchen through a Buy Nothing Facebook page a few weeks before her first visit. After a long day, she saw a post on the Have a Heart Kitchen Facebook page advertising free hot meals.
“I didn’t want to cook,” Ortega said.
Ortega has experienced food insecurity before, and even though she’s not in that place anymore, she said she understood and appreciated what Graves is doing.
After Ortega got her food, the feeling of warmth she felt from talking to Graves stuck with her.
“The experience of the food itself, you could just tell that it was made with love,” Ortega said.
On days when the kitchen is open, Graves and her daughter wake up at 7 a.m. to plan and prepare for the day’s menu. The duo decides what to make based on what ingredients they have each day. By 4:30 p.m., the two have everything set up outside and on the table for when people arrive.
As the sun goes down, steam rises from the aluminum foil trays filled with rice, fried cabbage, grilled Italian sausage and hot dogs. She grabs a stack of donated cups as she pours a cold glass of homemade lemonade with ice from the cooler.
When neighbor Jessica Rodriguez, a 38-year-old certified nursing assistant, heard what her new neighbors were doing, she didn’t hesitate to help.
“If she doesn't have it, I have it,” Rodriguez said. “If she needs help, I help her.”
Rodriguez helps cook, provides oven space and donates to Graves’ kitchen. Supporting her neighbor by exchanging resources has had a positive impact on both families, as they have gotten closer through serving the community together, Rodriguez said.
As the streetlights come on, Graves turns on the lamp on the table with the leftovers she packs, then she heads toward Main Street to hand them out to anyone in need. Even on days when they're not cooking, she encourages people to knock on her door if they're hungry, hoping she can still provide something to eat.
The mother-daughter duo doesn’t plan on slowing down. Graves hopes to eventually expand the kitchen to an operating food trailer, allowing her to serve even more people throughout Gainesville.
For now, Have a Heart Kitchen relies on donations like food, cups, clothes and money from the community to keep serving.
“I’m just grateful to have a child who’s interested [in cooking] and never saw it as punishment,” Graves said. “I was doing it to punish them at first.”
Sam Rislin is a contributing writer for The Alligator.
