NORTHAMPTON/EASTHAMPTON — When Casey Flaherty started working at Nourish Wellness Cafe in 2019, she said she instantly “fell in love” with the cafe’s mission to provide the community with healthy, locally-sourced organic food. Five years later, she owns the Northampton cafe, and she’s planning to bring Nourish’s rainbow of fresh ingredients to Easthampton.

“We’re one of the only 100% organic cafes in the area,” Flaherty said. “It’s been a big dream of mine to expand Nourish.”

Since Nourish first opened in 2016 in a small, basement storefront in Thornes Marketplace, it has provided a space to gather and refuel with fresh ingredients brought in daily from local farmers and businesses. When the original owners, Ashley and Ethan Vandermark, passed the torch of ownership to Flaherty, Nourish had already fully transitioned to its current location on Bridge Street, where business continued to improve.

Since Flaherty’s takeover, she said she’s seen significant growth in the demand for the kinds of food Nourish provides. With a wide selection of wellness bowls, smoothies, coffees and toasts, Nourish makes eating healthy and local a bold, bright experience — and also caters to a variety of dietary needs.

“We’ve seen Nourish grow quite a lot in the last couple of years,” said Flaherty. “There’s been a growing amount of people looking for certain kinds of foods. A lot of people come in looking for organic, vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free foods, and luckily our menu is like 99.9% gluten free.”

At nourish, Flaherty aims to strengthen community not just by creating a relaxed gathering space where friends can enjoy healthy food and company, but also by fostering relationships with local farmers and other vendors. Over the years, Nourish has become the center of a mutually beneficial food network.

“We’re really all about community and just creating a really welcoming atmosphere,” said Flaherty. “Our biggest thing is we partner with so many local farms… we constantly have fresh foods coming through our doors every day from local farms.”

The cafe partners with an array of local vendors, each providing unique, organic produce that adorns the colorful bowls, juices, and other items on the menu. Nourish sources its tangy sauerkraut and fermented beets from Real Pickles in Greenfield. Kale, cabbage, and other leafy greens arrive from Red Fire Farm in Granby and Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland.

For fresh, fragrant bread, Nourish turns to the expertise of Rise Above Bakery in Greenfield. YUP Coffee Roasters in Florence even provides the cafe a boldly-flavored, specialized coffee blend.

“They send us a Nourish blend specifically just for us, that you can’t get anywhere else,” explained Flaherty. “Everything we make is fresh and house-made.”

With the popularity of locally-sourced, plant-based and unprocessed foods on the rise, Flaherty saw the perfect opportunity to expand Nourish’s work to provide meals that taste good while making customers feel good. She said that the cafe often attracts customers from many miles away, but particularly from nearby Southampton and Easthampton. When the chance arose to bring Nourish to the Easthampton community, Flaherty jumped into action.

“There isn’t really a smoothie spot in Easthampton… We have a different niche that we’re hoping to spread in the area,” she said. “We happened to come across a great opportunity for a location in Easthampton.”

The site of the second cafe is yet to be revealed, but Flaherty plans to announce the location in the coming months as the details of expansion become finalized.

The opportunity to expand presented itself at a good time for Flaherty, who noted that the rising costs of running a business in Northampton has become a burgeoning difficulty.

“It’s part of the reason why we’re expanding,” she said. “Leasing a space in Northampton is increasingly expensive.”

In joining Easthampton’s roster of bistros, bakeries, diners and more, Nourish hopes to continue spreading its message that you truly are what you eat, but also to branch out with operations and potentially help to support the existing Northampton location.

Now, Flaherty and the rest of the Nourish team are looking to the community for help with their big move.

Fundraising is underway to support the cafe’s expansion, and will run through Aug. 31. Nourish was recently accepted into the Biz-M-Power grant program, funded through the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation, which matches crowd-funded donations one-to-one. Through this program, Flaherty hopes some of the startup and equipment costs for the new location can be offset.

In particular, Nourish is seeking to buy fridges, freezers, preparation stations, and a food processor like the ones at the Northampton location.

The fundraising goal rests at $19,814 to cover some of the cafe’s needed equipment, but the grant will match up to $20,000 in donations.

“The equipment we have listed on the campaign is only less than half of what we need to open the space in a few months so every last bit helps,” said Flaherty in an email.

To express thanks for the support of community members, Nourish is offering rewards for various donation amounts such as coffees and teas, smoothies, T-shirts, and spots on the “wall of gratitude” at the new Easthampton location.

Those interested in contributing can visit patronicity.com/nourishnoho.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.