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This morning I went to Woodrow Hall for a walk-through with Jennifer Davick, Southern Living’s senior food photographer, and Marian Cooper Cairns, a Southern Living test kitchen professional and food stylist, who will team together to teach the food styling and photography session at Food Blog South. As I drove by, I saw a wonderful reminder of why we’re doing Food Blog South, and I want to share it with you.

Doesn't look like much now... but soon this will be a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids in Birmingham. Plus we'll sell everything you need in case you're stranded on a desert island.

This space in Woodrow Hall is going to be home to the Desert Island Supply Company (DISCO), a new non-profit writing center for kids in Birmingham that is modeled on 826 National centers in cities across the country. (If you’re not familiar with 826 National, watch this TED speech by Dave Eggers, who founded 826 Valencia, which is a pirate supply store and the model for 826 National and DISCO.) Chip Brantley, who co-founded DISCO, and a group of students were clearing out the old pharmacy on the first floor of Woodrow Hall. (Food Blog South will be held on the third floor of the same building… so that window-painted sign is a good landmark.) They were hauling out old furniture, doors, random pieces of wood. The space looks in serious need of an extreme makeover, but it is filled will all kinds of hope for the future. (And so am I… it’s really happening!)

I’ve been involved with DISCO since it started about this time last year, as have dozens of other volunteers, some of whom you’ll meet at Food Blog South (Chip will be there, along with Erin Shaw Street, Tanner Latham, and Molly Folse, who have all been involved with DISCO writing projects in the past year.) This project is near and dear to my heart: I love sharing the gift of writing with kids… it is so fun to create something and enjoy it, and to get that spark that makes you want to create more. I also believe in the power of literacy and education: My own grandfather was an illiterate North Carolina sharecropper—he couldn’t even sign his name. But his wife, my grandmother, pushed her sons to pursue education, and my father and uncle went on to earn post-graduate degrees and establish great careers. Education and literacy can change your fate.

Some of the stuff taken out of DISCO's space. That's Chip Brantley in the ball cap. Behind him is Cornerstone School, where DISCO does a food writing workshop with 4th and 5th graders.

I really wanted to do something to help fund DISCO, but being a journalist, I just don’t have the deep pockets to hand DISCO a cool million. And, I wanted the book club I organize, the Birmingham Foodie Book Club, to contribute to the community. Food… writing… voila! Food Blog South. This year’s conference is becoming more than I imagined… and yet I hope it is a small start to what will become an annual event that will benefit the Desert Island Supply Company year after year.

This year, we also intend to benefit the Legacy Alabama Gulf Coast Environmental Recovery Fund. The oil disaster was happening just as we started planning this, and many of the people who helped organize Food Blog South felt that the issue of the future of our regional seafood was something other Southern food lovers care about, too.

I am so grateful that so many people have given their support to Food Blog South this first year… I am totally in awe that our speakers have all been so generous in sharing their time and expertise for this event and cause. This project is coming together because of a handful of tireless volunteers who deserve much better compensation than the homemade cookies I feed them every week. And there will be many other volunteers the day of the conference… thank you! Many of our sponsors and vendors are companies that approached us and wanted to be a part of what we’re doing—I think that says volumes about the kind of business people in Birmingham and in the food community at large. And I am thankful to everyone who’s attending for signing up and spreading the word. I look forward to meeting you in person in two weeks!

Shaun Chavis