Host Renee Boughman sits down with Rev. Laura Evans Mahn, founder and executive director of NEST Cafe (Nourish Everyone Sustainably Together), a pay-what-you-can cafe in Rock Island, Illinois, serving the Quad Cities.

Laura and Renee dig into what it takes to establish a mission-driven cafe, why so many of these spaces are led by women, and what critics get wrong about “feel-good” solutions to hunger.

Rev. Laura Evans Mahn is the founder and Executive Director of NEST Café (Nourish Everyone Sustainably Together). Raised in North Carolina, she attended the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and later received her Master’s in Divinity from Candler School of Theology at Emory University.

Laura has served as a church pastor in various locations, worked in various nonprofits, and traveled quite a bit. In all of these positions and locations, Laura has learned that what she loves most is hearing people’s stories. Those stories, both the ones she has listened to and the ones she has observed, those shared around a table and those shared because of the lack of a table, have led to NEST Café. Having a place where people gather over real food and experience a sense of “home” no matter how much they can pay, has been a dream of hers for a very long time. NEST Café is a dream come true!

Laura has called Rock Island, IL home for the past 18 years. She and her husband, Jason, are parents to 2 boys, 1 dog, and a handful of chickens.