Give thanks for SAME Cafe

Libby Berkey at SAME Cafe

Before you tuck into your turkey, give thanks for people like Brad and Libby Birkey, who in October 2006 opened SAME Café - a pay-what-you-want restaurant at 2023 East Colfax Avenue whose name stands for So that All May Eat.

Running SAME Café has "really opened our eyes," Libby told Jared Jacang Maher earlier this year, when he profiled the couple in a Westword cover story. "Everyone deserves to eat really well. When you're putting good stuff in your body and you're feeling good about what you're taking in, you can put good energy back into the world."

And now it's your turn to send some good energy back their way: NBC Nightly News featured SAME Café in a "Making a Difference" story in March, and the Birkeys are now among the five finalists in the NBC's "hometown heroes" contest. You can make all the difference in whether they win - and get $10,000 for SAME Cafe - by voting for them here.

But no need to stop by SAME today to tell the Birkeys you voted for them: They're taking a much deserved two days off. SAME Cafe will reopen Saturday.