Join us for Dinner Bites, S’mores, Garden Tours, a Bike Raffle & More

It’s FREE and FOR ALL AGES. Biking, Scooting and e-Biking encouraged.

As part of Austin Eats' efforts to bring healthy food resources and lively discussion around local food access to the Austin community, this event is intended for those who live, work, play, volunteer, study, or worship in Austin.

Bike Vessel (2024) by Eric Seals (56 min)

BIKE VESSEL is a feature documentary following Donnie Seals Sr. and his son and filmmaker Eric as they cycle from St. Louis to Chicago.  Bike Vessel also utilizes archival footage/photographs and animations to take viewers to Seals’ previous unhealthy life and health complications, while giving audiences an intimate look inside a Black working-class family living outside Chicago in Wheaton, IL. By the end of the film, viewers will understand where Seals once was in his health journey, how he made a full recovery, and his everyday commitment and struggle of never going back to where he once was. An intimate look into a father-son relationship, Bike Vessel is a poetic meditation on kinship, connection, and deep familial love. 

Here is the line up for our evening together:

6:00 pm: Doors open. Tell us your favorite veggie or fruit and register for raffle prizes.

6:30-8 pm: Food & Fellowship

• Tours of the Circle Urban Ministries’ garden given by youth from One For One Chicago

• Dinner bites served by Chef Ali Kleiche from Mafunzo International Fitness & Kitchen and Chef Patty Ringo from Katr2U: delicious, simple and healthy recipes

• Enjoy tastes of chicken sausages and vegan sausages at the Grill Station

• Refreshing flavored waters at our Hydration Station

• S’mores station, including all ingredients and coaching to make your own, hosted by GSJ Family Life Center

• Free health screenings offered by PCC Wellness

• Raffle for a refurbished Schwinn Cruiser bike from Working Bikes

• Other community partners will be offering lots of freebies and fun

8 pm-9:30 pm: Film & Discussion

• Chef Ali will lead an easy, gentle exercise

• Bring a blanket or folding chair. (We’ll also have chairs for those who biked) Settle in to watch “Bike Vessel.”

• After the film, the movie director, Eric Seals, and the movie subject, Donnie Seals Sr., will discuss the film and answer your questions.

• We’ll hold our raffle drawing

Masks are not required but are welcome.

If you bike, scoot or ebike, there’s a bike-friendly route behind Circle Urban Ministries, down Parkside Drive. Otherwise, Circle Urban Ministries can be accessed by the Central Stop of the Green Line and the 20, 57, 85, 126, 313 and 315 busses. Parking is available in the lot at the Northwest corner of Central and Washington.

Austin Eats is a collaborative working to rewrite the narrative around food in Chicago's Austin community. By synergizing organizations already promoting healthier food choices through grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms, Austin Eats will recreate Austin’s food access ecosystem. One Earth Collective is a member of Austin Eats.