Flatlander Fund

On July 27, 2010, Daniel Schreiber was struck by a train, just north of Urbana, and died at age 24. However long people had known him, they couldn’t fail to be touched by someone who would introduce himself to new acquaintances by asking, “What’s your passion?”

He really wanted to know. And he wasn’t afraid to follow his own passions, wherever they lead him.

A brilliant graduate student in Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Dan also had a passion for stuff that was tactile, handmade – stuff that spoke to you about where it came from.

Focusing his passion on chocolate, Dan went, in one brief year, from grinding his first batch of cacao beans in his own kitchen to setting up a business, becoming the first bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Illinois, and producing some of the finest chocolate being made anywhere. His factory space, Flatlander Chocolate, was scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

In setting up this workspace, Dan imagined and hoped that it would become much more than just a “chocolate factory.” He wanted it to be a shared space, a community space, where amateur cooks, gardeners, fermenters, foragers, and fellow food entrepreneurs could collaborate and cultivate a mutual passion for “food with a sense of place.” Because Dan didn’t live to bring this project to fruition, the Flatlander Fund was established by friends and family  to construct just such a community kitchen in his memory, as a way to build a home for what Dan gave to us: food from the heart.

Read more about Dan Schreiber, aka “The Chocolate Man” here.
Listen to a radio interview broadcast on July 16, where Dan talks about his chocolate operation and his desire to open it up, to make it “a valuable resource for the community”:

“I hope that this production facility, with the resources that it provides – especially easily certifiable kitchen space – can serve as a valuable resource for the community.  And I hope that it becomes a locus for production of food, for people to pursue their hobbies related to food, to produce food for the farmers’ market or other venues, and just a valuable community space.”
~ Daniel Schreiber, July 16, 2010 in an interview with WILL radio