One of the most powerful things you can do for the world is also one of the most personal: choosing what you put on your plate. And for Nicola Philpott, that idea doesn’t stop at her own kitchen table. It extends to the meals CAA prepares in community for our neighbors.
Nicola is the volunteer organizer behind CAA’s West Suburbs Vegan Potlucks and our Simpson Meals program, which brings lovingly prepared, fully plant-based meals to guests at Simpson Housing Services. Simpson provides shelter for neighbors experiencing homelessness.
This year, thanks to Nicola’s leadership and support from volunteers and donors, the program has expanded to include meal service at a second shelter. Starting in March of this year, our volunteers also provide a monthly plant-based meal at the local Sojourner domestic violence shelter.
All About Nicola
Along with her family, Nicola moved back to the Twin Cities after 12 years in Michigan and since then, has participated in many CAA events. When planning her family’s move here, Nicola immediately searched for a veg fest in the area. She found our Twin Cities VegFest and got excited to connect with CAA.
One of the first events she attended was the July 4th Vegan Potluck and she loved it so much she decided to become more active with CAA. She also loves attending and getting involved with the Twin Cities Vegan Bike Crawl, the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Challenge, Twin Cities VegFest, and the ThanksLiving Potluck. Nicola credits CAA for ensuring the Twin Cities is a thriving vegan hub and appreciates its other fun community and volunteer events.
In her first volunteer role with CAA, Nicola helped organize and serve a lunch at Simpson Housing Services. The event welcomed 25 people experiencing homelessness with a tasty plant-based meal. “It was so rewarding to see shelter guests enjoying our food!” she said.
Nicola loves to cook and share the plant-based food she makes with others. This is a core part of her activism. She appreciates that CAA activities allow her to do what she loves while advocating for farmed animals. Her favorite cookbooks include “Isa Does It” and “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.” Both are by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Per Nicola, “I’m not going to give up comfort food just because I’m vegan!”
She is also a climate activist and co-leads the MN West Suburbs chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. For Nicola, going vegan has been the easiest, cheapest, and most impactful climate action she has taken. She believes that, “We won’t solve the climate crisis without changing the way we eat.”
A Growing Meal Program and a New Home for Simpson Housing Services
Nicola was instrumental in starting up CAA’s meal at Simpson Housing Services. Thanks to her organizing, the program started serving one meal a month in 2024. These events consistently receive a warm reception from shelter guests and staff. Generous financial support from CAA donors keeps this program running — along with strong volunteer interest. Often, the volunteer spots for these meal service events are full before we can even advertise them. It’s clear that this initiative is popular all around!
Since those early days in 2024, the program has grown. Today, because of Nicola’s help and with backing from our supporters, CAA volunteers now prepare and serve three meals every month to Simpson guests and Simpson’s own weekly meal planning has evolved to accommodate more plant-based meals.
Earlier this year, Simpson opened a wonderful new Minneapolis location, also in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis. The gorgeous new building is flooded with natural light, creating an environment that feels welcoming and dignified from the moment you walk through the door. Nicola and her crew of CAA volunteers have settled right into this bright new space, bringing their own warmth to match it. The new dining room sports menu screens that display information about the benefits of plant-based foods during meal services. Guests and volunteers love all the new features of the improved space.
Weekly Vegan Meals — Even When CAA’s Not There
Under Nicola’s leadership, the Simpson Meals team has built up an impressive repertoire of recipes — stuffed peppers, vegetable coconut curry, minestrone, chili, and casseroles, along with healthy sides like salads and fresh fruit. Guests have noticed the quality and deliciousness of these meals that fill everyone’s need for nourishing, healthy, tasty food. The meals help to accommodate different guests’ need for halal, kosher, ital, vegetarian, or vegan meals, making them inclusive to a greater variety of guests.
The response to CAA’s plant-based cooking at Simpson Housing Services has been positive enough that Simpson itself now incorporates at least one fully plant-based meal into their regular weekly rotation — regardless of whether CAA volunteers are in the kitchen that day. This shows just how easy and influential it can be to share plant-based cooking with others and create lasting change, one meal at a time.
A New Monthly Partnership With Sojourner Shelter
The successes at Simpson Housing Services got Nicola thinking about ways to expand the program even further and provide delicious and healthy plant-based meals to other neighbors too. An opportunity arose with Sojourner Project and Nicola was inspired to help out there too, offering the same dignified, nourishing, plant-based meal experience to new guests at a new location.
The Sojourner Project is a local organization that provides a secure domestic violence shelter. According to their website, “Sojourner’s mission is to provide emergency shelter, support, and legal advocacy services to those victimized by domestic violence and other forms of interpersonal violence.”
“The shelter is a secure, temporary emergency residence for women and their children, unsafe in their own homes due to violence and abuse. The shelter provides programming and services designed to promote healing and assist residents with personal planning to achieve increased safety for themselves and their children. Support and life skills groups, children’s programming and transportation assistance enhance individualized case management services. Transition support is also available to assist residents as they re-enter the community.”
Serving at a secure shelter like this requires additional care and coordination. Volunteering for the Sojourner vegan meal program requires a regular commitment to meal prep on the fourth Tuesday of each month, from 3pm – 5:30pm.
If you have volunteered for the Simpson meals program or other CAA programs and are interested in this new program, reach out to the CAA team.
Climate & the Kitchen
Nicola’s commitment to plant-based food runs deeper than just good recipes. She’s been an active member of Citizens’ Climate Lobby for 9 years, bringing a climate activist’s lens to everything she does — including her work with CAA. Feeding people well, reducing harm to animals, caring for the planet — it all flows from the same place.
Together with fellow volunteer Anna Larsson, Nicola presents From Fork to Forest, an engaging educational presentation on plant-based eating and its connection to environmental health. The From Fork to Forest presentation makes the case that our food choices are a necessary piece of the climate change solution. Anna and Nicola have provided this informational program at schools, churches, and events, inspiring hundreds of attendees to try more plant-based meals.
Nicola and Anna also played a key role in organizing the Twin Cities’ first Eat for Impact initiative under the umbrella of CAA’s Wholesome Minnesota program and in partnership with the organization Planted. During this program, nine restaurant locations each added two new plant-based dishes to their menus for the month of March! Numerous environmental and social justice groups, as well as government leaders, participated by endorsing the project and dining at the restaurants.
Vegan Potlucks in the West Suburbs
Around the same time Nicola was starting up the meal services at Simpson Housing, she was also dreaming of a different kind of gathering. Soon, the West Suburbs Vegan Potlucks launched, meeting once every month at Minnetonka’s Unmapped Brewing. These potlucks find people from all over the Twin Cities coming together to enjoy plant-based dishes and good company. Recipes are swapped and connections are made, all while having fun.
The ongoing monthly event at Unmapped also provides support for CAA’s other programs and missions. The potlucks have hosted vegan food drives for local pantries, as well as a special fundraising event that supported the Simpson meal service initiative. Our community keeps showing up to connect and provide for each other in meaningful ways.
How You Can Help
If Nicola’s actions have inspired you, you’re not alone. Our volunteer spots to work with Nicola at the shelters are consistently full well in advance of the event dates. But we’re always interested in finding new helpers! You can sign up to prepare and serve a plant-based meal at Simpson Housing at any upcoming available dates. If all dates are full, keep checking back in as we are always adding more event dates!
Once you register as a volunteer, we’ll message you with directions and other necessary information. Please note that due to the sensitive nature of these events, advance registration is required to volunteer.
Making an Impact Together
At CAA, volunteers drive everything we accomplish. Last year, more than 280 volunteers donated over 6,263 hours of their time — more than a $125,000 in value to CAA! They’ve also gained valuable advocacy skills, leadership experience, and lasting friendships in our community.
Read more about our collective impact in the 2024 annual report.
CAA’s Theory of Change
Our mission is to encourage people to embrace their empathy for farmed animals and move toward a plant-based diet. This drives our vision of a world where all animals, human and nonhuman, can thrive.
We grow our movement by welcoming people of all backgrounds. Through our programs, events, and activities, we create a powerful cycle of increasing awareness, building community, empowering advocates, and generating lasting change for farmed animals. This approach targets both individual and institutional change.
What kind of change do we create? Our programs reduce consumption of animal products, improve the lives of farmed animals, and benefit the well-being of all Minnesotans.
We developed this theory of change in 2017 through comprehensive community input, including an online stakeholder survey, two public town halls, and strategic planning sessions with staff, core volunteers, and board members.
Your Skills, Our Mission
Ready to turn your compassion into action? Join our community of change-makers! Explore our volunteer opportunities to find the perfect match for your interests and skills. From hands-on roles in food service, photography, and event coordination to strategic planning for Twin Cities Veg Fest and helping to manage our website, there’s a meaningful way for everyone to contribute.
