Hello Friends,

My name is Gabrielle E. W. Carter, you may know me as @Gabrielle_Eitienne. Many of you found my work through the Netflix show, "High on the Hog", and you got to witness one the hardest things my family had to overcome. While navigating a land acquisition enforced by the State of North Carolina, our family actively continued preserving our foodways, recipes, land traditions, and lore. Though many of our family members and long standing community members, were displaced, we only faced a portion of our land being taken for the highway. Because of this, it's especially important that we preserve this land and our homeplace as a representation of our history here. For families everywhere fighting this same battle, and for those who didn't have the choice to stay, but can return and remember.

If you came across this fundraiser with no prior context, hello to you too!

I am an Artist, Chef and Cultural Preservationist from North Carolina and I am intentionally preserving our nearly 3 acre homeplace and reimagining my Grandfather's mechanic shop as a space to gather, teach, learn and create. Too often, historic buildings in Black communities fall into disrepair and eventually disappear. This negatively impacts our communities and limits possibilities for the next generation to build upon.

The vision for Woodard’s Garage is to create a special third space that will engage, employ and inspire our community; while honoring the history of this place. This space will center the preservation of local culture through our weekend dining concept, uplift imagination and folklore by hosting artists and culture workers from all over, and act as a creative hub across mediums. It will also serve as the home for Revival Suppers.

Read more and join me on this journey by joining my newsletter (I share recipes here too ;).

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We already accomplished so much, with the help of friends and donors, and we are now raising $50K to complete the second phase of this project. Below is a list of some of our immediate needs. We welcome your questions, curiosity and support. We are approaching this bit by bit, because we don't need perfection to start hosting, just a safe, clean functioning space. 

PHASE 1 

Pay off the Mortgage ✔

Roof Repair over main building and general store ✔

Initial clean up and junk removal ✔

PHASE 2

Replace roof over machine shop and makers studio

Fence in home to create separation from shop 

Power wash walls and floors, polish floors 

Professional Interior cleaning 

Build bar and seating, local cabinet maker and carpenter Phil Jones is being contracted to build the furniture.

Masonry work on the facade, repair brick failure

Get water and electricity up to code

Glass and window replacement

HVAC

PHASE 3

Architect 

Building extension for commercial kitchen and rental loft

Land Reclamation. After we complete the third phase, we want to reclaim adjacent land to secure the green spaces along the perimeter of our existing property. Reclaiming, securing and honoring these lands is an important part of this project.

Every donation gets us closer, thank you for your help.