13th Annual Full Belly Feast Fundraiser

In 2001, Jock Brandis traveled to Mali to fix a small village’s water treatment system. While he was there, he encountered a woman who explained to him the needs of her village. She informed him that it would be a huge benefit if he could find an affordable peanut sheller for her village. After meeting the woman, he returned to the United States and he reached out to an expert in the peanut authority, Dr. Tim Williams of The University of Georgia. Dr. Williams introduced the Bulgarian Peanut Shelling Design to Jock. Jock then adapted the design for the needs of the village with the help of a friend, Wes Perry. Jock went through several iterations of a redesign and one year later he completed the machine that is now called the Universal Nut Sheller. As a result, in 2003, Brandis teamed up with a group of returned Peace corp volunteers from Wilmington, NC to form the Full Belly Project.

The Full Belly Project is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people in rural communities. A small organization, with two staff members and a large community of volunteers, with a big vision to address the critical issue of poverty eradication with simple agricultural technologies. The role of the Full Belly Project is to develop and distribute agricultural devices to essentially help people help themselves. Equipment such as the Universal Nut Sheller and the Solar Water Pump were designed to be locally manufactured, operated, repaired, using readily available materials and labor. The over-arching goal of Full Belly is to create self-efficacy in developing economies.

Through events like the Full Belly Feast Fundraiser, funds are raised to support the Full Belly Project.

To find out more about the efforts of the Full Belly Project, read some of their past newsletters, check out some of the products that we’ve created like the Solar Hand Cart, and read some of our Success Stories. Read about the founders and the Full Belly Project Awards from MIT, Popular Mechanics Magazine, CNN and more.

The 13th Annual Full Belly Feast Fundraiser is slated for February 28th, 2015 featuring international cuisine, live world music, and a live auction highlighting auction items from renowned artists Michelle Connelly, George Pochepstov, Gabriel Lehman and many more.

Buy Tickets

Purchase tickets for the event on Saturday, February 28th 2015 at the Coastline Convention Center.