When Haley Abbott, 9, entered the tea room within the 15-acre Crystal Pointe Farm in Curdsville, on Route 633 off of Route 15, it was like stepping into a tea party enthusiast’s paradise.

A beautiful blue tablecloth with intricate patterns lay underneath circular pieces of lace that would be used for the three-course meal served by farm owner and host Kate Sewalk.

Wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a pair of white gloves, Haley is ready to take part in the sophisticated event.

Sewalk has started hosting private tea parties for families and friends in the area. But the parties serve a unique purpose. Those who make reservations to enjoy the morning or afternoon teas must bring donations for the nonprofit of choice, many of the donations benefiting nonprofits in the Heart of Virginia.

Sewalk said hunger and feeding the hungry has been a family affair. Her grandfather, Mike, grew up in the Great Depression era, and remembers being continually hungry, she said.

Sewalk said he and his son, Sewalk’s father, worked to make sure no one around experienced the hunger her grandfather had.

When he would play in nearby areas, Mike and Chester wouldn’t ask people for money. They would ask them for food instead. She said they would collect piles of corn, cabbage and potatoes in Mike’s truck, and haul them back to their community. Once they were back, Chester and Mike would make sure everyone there had as much as they wanted.

“We’ve kind of been doing that in our family ever since,” Sewalk said.

Many of the nonprofits the tea parties have helped include organizations that focus on hunger. They include St. Theresa’s Food Pantry in Farmville, Maysville Presbyterian and Chestnut Grove Baptist Church in Buckingham, Glenn Memorial Baptist Church in Prospect and the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank among others.

“Feeding people has been the legacy of my family,” Sewalk said.

Jamie Abbott, Haley’s mother, said she had heard about the tea parties from her mother-in-law, and said she had been familiar with a few in Lynchburg and Richmond. Coming to one close to home, she said, had all of the comfort of visiting a good friend for tea. She said this was especially the case for Haley.

“She felt very much a part of it,” Jamie, whose family lives in Cumberland County, said. “It wasn’t a little girl at a table. It was a young lady, and Ms. Sewalk made sure she was very much a part of it. She felt very included, very important.”

Jamie said the decision to donate to St. Theresa’s came after growing up in the church and learning that it had a food pantry.

“Hunger’s a growing issue within Cumberland County, Farmville, and we actually didn’t know St. Theresa’s had a food pantry, but we were looking for something, especially around this time of year, you know, where food is a priority.”

“We felt like that was like kind of giving back to the church that gave so much to me,” Jamie said.

She said she was glad for Sewalk’s organization, not only in giving Haley an authentic tea party, but that all of the funds go toward good causes.

“(Sewalk) takes nothing, and she gives so much,” Jamie said. “I think that’s so huge.”

“For her to say, ‘come to my home, and I will pay it forward,’” Jamie said. “I just really love that aspect.”