Featured Recipe from Produce Rx: Butternut Squash with Black Beans

Featured Recipe from Produce Rx

A Program of The Nashville Food Project

Food can do more than fill a plate. It can support healing, strengthen community, and help people care for their bodies in ways that feel sustainable and dignified.

Through our Produce Rx pilot, we are working alongside community partners to support better health outcomes through access to fresh, nourishing food. In partnership with Wayspring, we provide fresh produce for patients while care teams help coordinate access and provide ongoing support.

Together, we are building a model that strengthens dignity, connection, and well-being through food.

One way we support this work is by sharing simple, nourishing recipes that make fresh ingredients approachable in everyday kitchens. This month’s featured recipe brings together two ingredients that are both accessible and deeply nourishing: butternut squash and black beans.

The natural sweetness of squash pairs beautifully with the earthy richness of black beans, creating a dish that is hearty, flavorful, and full of fiber and plant-based protein. Meals like this remind us that good food does not have to be complicated. With a few ingredients and a little care, it is possible to create something both nourishing and satisfying.

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2¾ cups butternut squash, cubed (about 1 small squash, roughly 1 pound)

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or cooking oil of choice)

• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar

• ¼ cup water

• 2 cans (15.5 ounces each) low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained

• ½ teaspoon oregano

Instructions

1. Wash hands with soap and water.

2. Heat the squash in the microwave on high heat for 1–2 minutes. This softens the skin and makes it easier to peel.

3. Carefully peel the squash with a vegetable peeler or small knife, then cut into ½-inch cubes.

4. Peel and chop the onion.

5. In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic powder, and squash. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

6. Add the vinegar and water. Reduce heat and cook on low until the squash becomes tender, about 10 minutes.

7. Add the beans and oregano. Cook until the beans are heated through.

Recipes like this are a reminder that nourishing food can begin with simple ingredients and shared knowledge. Through Produce Rx and partnerships across Nashville, we continue working toward a future where access to healthy food supports not only nutrition, but long-term health and well-being.

Together, we are growing a food system where care and nourishment move hand in hand.

Recipe from the United States Department of Agriculture. You can find more recipes at https://snaped.fns.usda.gov/resources/recipes-and-menus

Planting the Future: Building a Community Orchard at Mill Ridge

At The Community Farm at Mill Ridge, the work of growing food often begins quietly.

A shovel pressing into the soil.
Roots spread carefully in a freshly dug hole.
A small tree placed with intention, knowing that years from now it will nourish people who have yet to walk this land.

This spring, that quiet work is becoming something larger. Together with volunteers, neighbors, and partners, The Nashville Food Project is planting a new community orchard at Mill Ridge Park. More than 200 fruit trees and berry brambles will take root here, expanding access to fresh fruit for growers and families across the Antioch community.

An orchard does not appear overnight. It begins with care.

Planting a tree may seem simple. But the details matter if that tree is going to thrive for decades. At our orchard demonstration at The Community Farm at Mill Ridge, volunteers will learn the foundational elements of planting fruit trees in a way that supports their long-term health. Many fruit trees are grafted, meaning two different parts of a plant are joined together to grow as one. The rootstock forms the base of the tree, anchoring it in the soil, while the scion becomes the branches and fruit-bearing portion above ground.

Where those two pieces meet is called the graft union, and it must remain visible above the soil line to protect the tree’s long-term health. Participants also learn to identify the root flare, the place where the trunk widens and transitions into the root system. Keeping this area exposed allows the tree to establish strong, healthy roots.

Understanding these details helps ensure that each tree planted today will grow strong enough to produce fruit for years to come.

Once the tree is placed carefully in the hole, soil and compost are returned around the roots. Volunteers break up clumps, remove rocks, and press the soil gently into place with their hands to eliminate air pockets and help the tree settle securely into the ground.

The final step is mulch. Spread in a ring around the base of the tree, mulch helps retain moisture and protect the soil while leaving the trunk and graft union clear.

Each step may seem small. But together they create the conditions a young tree needs to grow. The orchard taking shape at Mill Ridge is about more than fruit.

It is about expanding tree canopy in a growing part of Nashville. It is about improving soil health and supporting pollinators. It is about creating a place where neighbors can gather, learn, and steward the land together.

And it is about food.

One day, the trees planted here will produce harvests that nourish the Mill Ridge community and the growers who care for this space.

But first comes the planting.

Orchards are acts of patience. They require a long view. The trees planted today will grow slowly, season by season, shaped by the care of the people who tend them.

That is why the planting itself matters so much.

When volunteers gather with shovels in the soil, they are doing more than planting trees. They are investing in a future where nourishment grows in shared spaces and community takes root alongside the orchard.

This is how change often begins.

One tree at a time.

Access. Dignity. Infrastructure.

National Nutrition Month®, a time to reflect on how nutrition shapes our health and our communities.

This year’s theme, “Discover the Power of Nutrition,” invites us to look beyond individual choices and consider the broader systems that influence how we eat and live.

At The Nashville Food Project, the power of nutrition is not just what is on a plate.

It is about access.
It is about dignity.
It is about the infrastructure that makes health possible.

Nutrition begins with consistency. It is difficult to make informed food choices without reliable access to nourishing food. Transportation, affordability, proximity, and stability all shape what is possible for families across Nashville.

Through our kitchens, Community Agriculture Network, food recovery efforts, and partnerships with more than 55 community meal sites, we build steady and dignified access across Nashville.

When meals are reliable, health becomes possible. Every day, thousands of meals move through our kitchens and community partners. Behind each one is a network of people and systems working to make nourishment reliable.

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Garden plot rentals are available for those who want to cultivate food and connection in shared community spaces.

Volunteer in our kitchens to help prepare and share nourishing meals while building meaningful community connections.

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Healthy habits do not exist in isolation. They are shaped by systems. Land access. Kitchen capacity. Transportation logistics. Cross-sector partnerships. Thoughtful stewardship of resources. When these systems are strong, nutrition moves beyond short-term advice and becomes long-term impact. When systems work, communities thrive.

Infrastructure is shaped by many hands. Farmers and cooks. Volunteers and dietitians. Neighbors who share a table and organizations coordinating behind the scenes. The power of nutrition is not only in individual decisions. It is in shared responsibility.

This March, as we recognize National Nutrition Month, we invite you to consider how access, dignity, and infrastructure shape the health of our city. Nutrition is more than a plate. It is the foundation of a more just and connected Nashville.

At The Nashville Food Project, we grow, cook, and share in ways that strengthen this foundation.

Through our network of community farms, we steward land and support neighbors who are growing their own food. In our kitchens, recovered, donated, and locally grown ingredients become nourishing, scratch-made meals. And through partnerships with community organizations across Nashville, those meals reach neighbors who need them most.

By connecting land, kitchens, and community, we stretch resources while strengthening food access across our city. Your support helps nourish neighbors and sustain a food system rooted in care, stewardship, and shared responsibility.

You can explore the impact of this work in our Community Impact Report, which highlights what supporters helped make possible over the past year.

Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate

Welcome to At the Table with The Nashville Food Project

This series is an invitation to slow down and pay attention. To notice what is showing up in our kitchens, our gardens, and our city. To reflect on how the simple, daily acts of growing, cooking, and sharing food are building community across Nashville.

Each month, you will hear directly from staff members about what they are seeing in their day-to-day work. What is shifting. What is needed. Where hope is emerging. And how you can join us in cultivating food security that is steady, relational, and rooted in care.

This month, we sat down with Maggie, our Volunteer Engagement Manager, and Brad, one of our Meals Coordinators.

What We Are Seeing

As the new year begins, we are already seeing an influx of support from volunteers and partners across the city. That encouragement matters. Community food security is not built alone. It is built together.

On the kitchen side, Brad shared that we are paying close attention to our dry storage. Pantry staples like oil, pasta, and rice remain essential to the meals we prepare each week. These foundational ingredients allow us to respond flexibly and consistently as needs shift.

Behind the scenes, we are also refining our donation sorting process to preserve more food on the front end. This helps us increase kitchen capacity and steward ingredients with greater care before they move into meal preparation. Thoughtful systems allow us to scale without sacrificing quality.

Partnership in Action

Maggie highlighted the strength of our long-standing partnerships with organizations on the front lines, including Open Table Nashville and Trinity Community Commons.

Recently, a group of dedicated volunteers fired up the smoker and prepared Hawaiian ribs served over pineapple rice. These meals were individually portioned and shared specifically with Open Table Nashville.

Moments like this remind us that hospitality is both practical and creative. It is planning and partnership. It is smoked ribs and rice. It is listening to what a partner needs and responding with care.

An Invitation

At the Table is not only about what we are doing. It is about who we are doing it with.

If you are already volunteering, giving, or partnering with us, thank you. Your presence strengthens this work.

If you are new and curious about how to get involved, we invite you to explore our upcoming events and volunteer opportunities on our website. Whether in the kitchen, in the gardens, or through financial support, there is a place for you here.

Community food security grows when more people pull up a chair.

Thank you for being at the table with us. We look forward to seeing you in the kitchen, in the garden, and around shared meals in the months ahead.

Watch the full At the Table conversation

on YouTube or Instagram.

Food & Faith Conference: Building a More Connected Hunger Response

Care does not stand alone. It is shaped by values, systems, and shared responsibility.

On Saturday, February 21, 2026, The Nashville Food Project will join faith communities and local organizations from across the city for the 2026 Food & Faith Conference, held from 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

The Food & Faith Conference creates space for learning, reflection, and collaboration around food insecurity in the greater Nashville area. As an organization rooted in partnership, we believe hunger relief is strongest when communities work together across differences, grounded in shared values and a commitment to care.

This gathering invites participants to better understand the realities of food access in our region and to explore the many ways faith communities and local organizations can be part of the solution. Through conversation and shared learning, the conference aims to break down silos and strengthen the network of people and organizations responding to hunger across Nashville.

Throughout the morning, participants will engage with topics including community gardening, orchards, hot meals, food pantries, and advocacy. The conference is designed to be practical, relational, and grounded in the lived experiences of neighbors and the organizations that serve alongside them.

At The Nashville Food Project, we bring people together to cultivate community and alleviate hunger. The Food & Faith Conference reflects that commitment by creating a space where values, action, and collaboration meet, and where care is understood as something we carry together.

We invite faith leaders, congregants, nonprofit partners, and community members to join us for this morning of shared learning and connection.

Event Details

Food & Faith Conference
Saturday, February 21, 2026
8:30 AM–1:00 PM
Westminster Presbyterian Church
3900 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37205

Registration is required. Additional details and registration information are available online.

Grow With Us: Community Garden Beds Now Available

At The Nashville Food Project, growing food is about more than what ends up on the plate. It’s about stewardship, shared learning, and the relationships that form when neighbors come together around the land.

We’re excited to share that community garden beds are now available at McGruder Community Garden and Mill Ridge Community Farm for the upcoming season. These spaces are open to individuals and families who want to grow fresh food while being part of a supportive, connected gardening community.

Our community garden beds offer more than a place to plant. Gardeners receive access to shared tools, compost and soil support, educational opportunities throughout the season, and connection with other neighbors who are growing alongside them. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just getting started, these gardens are designed to meet people where they are.

At The Nashville Food Project, we believe growing food together strengthens both individual wellbeing and collective care. Our gardens are places where questions are welcome, learning is shared, and relationships deepen over time.

Garden beds are limited and available on a first-come basis. We encourage anyone interested in growing with us this season to register early to reserve a space.

What’s Included with a Garden Bed

• Access to shared tools

• Compost and soil support

• Educational opportunities throughout the season

• Community connection and shared learning

Garden Locations

• Community Farm at Mill Ridge

  • Plots available: 500 square foot in-ground plots

    Address: 12944 Old Hickory Blvd Antioch, TN 37013

• McGruder Community Garden

  • Plots available: 4x8' raised garden beds

    Address: 2013 25th Ave N Nashville, TN 37208

How to Register

Please fill out the application below.

Garden beds are limited, and spaces will be filled as registrations are received.

If you have questions about community gardens or the registration process, please reach out to gardens@thenashvillefoodproject.org.

We’re looking forward to another season of growing together and welcoming neighbors into these shared spaces.

First Taste: An Introduction to The Nashville Food Project

At The Nashville Food Project, we believe understanding the full picture of our work matters. How food moves through our city, how partnerships support neighbors, and how daily actions connect to long-term change are all part of the story we’re continually sharing.

On Thursday, February 19, 2026, we invite the community to join us for First Taste: An Introduction to The Nashville Food Project, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM at our headquarters at 5904 California Avenue in Nashville.

First Taste is designed for anyone interested in learning more about our work, whether you’re new to The Nashville Food Project, a long-time volunteer, a program participant, or simply curious about how we bring people together to cultivate community and alleviate hunger across Nashville.

During this hour-long session, we’ll offer a short presentation introducing our mission, vision, and core areas of work, followed by plenty of time for questions and conversation. Light refreshments will be provided, and the space is intended to be welcoming, informative, and relational.

At The Nashville Food Project, transparency and connection are central to how we operate. First Taste offers a chance to step back, ask questions, and better understand how our kitchens, gardens, food recovery, and partnerships work together each day to support neighbors across the city.

Our headquarters is accessible, with a ramp located on the west side of the building and all-gender, accessible restrooms available for visitor use. First Taste sessions are currently facilitated in English. If you require accommodations to participate, please let us know in the comment section when you RSVP so arrangements can be made.

We’re glad to offer this space for learning and connection, and we look forward to welcoming you.

Event Details

First Taste: An Introduction to The Nashville Food Project
Thursday, February 19, 2026
12:00–1:00 PM
The Nashville Food Project
5904 California Avenue
Nashville, TN 37209

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

Simmer x The Pepper Pott

Event Details

Simmer x The Pepper Pott
Friday, February 27th | 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Hosted at The Nashville Food Project
5904 California Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209

In recent weeks, many across our city have been navigating disruption and recovery. Moments like these remind us why gathering around food matters. Food is care made visible. It is dignity practiced. It is one way we remember our responsibility to one another.

Our next Simmer Dinner invites us to come together around the table for an evening shaped by heritage, story, and shared work.

This installment of Simmer offers a taste of Guyana, the only country in the world that produces all the food it needs through regenerative agriculture. Rich in natural resources and deeply rooted in environmental stewardship, Guyana is a place where abundance is cultivated with care and where warmth lives at the center of the table.

We are honored to welcome The Pepper Pott, a Caribbean culinary group led by a mother-and-son duo whose cooking carries generations of knowledge forward. Their food reflects tradition held with intention and hospitality offered with deep care, reminding us that nourishment is as much about connection as it is about flavor.

What to Expect

Guests can expect a thoughtfully designed dining experience that includes:

• A curated four-course meal featuring authentic Guyanese flavors

• A signature Caribbean cocktail or mocktail crafted to complement the menu

• Stories shared behind each course and the cultural roots that inform them

• A dietary-inclusive menu with flavorful options for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and meat eaters alike

• A vibrant, intimate setting designed to feel like dining in a South American kitchen

This dinner is for lovers of bold flavors and rich cultural storytelling. It is an invitation to savor, sip, and soak in the warmth of the Caribbean.

Tickets

General admission tickets are $90 per person.

A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $125 per person and include:

• Chef’s counter seating with an opportunity to interact with Chef Karen of The Pepper Pott

• One additional course

• One additional specialty beverage pairing

• A $20 Pepper Pott gift card

Why It Matters

When you join us for Simmer, you support more than an evening together. You help sustain the relationships and systems that allow us to keep growing, cooking, and sharing nourishing food across Nashville.

Care does not end when the meal does. It continues because people choose to show up.

If you’re not able to join us for this dinner, your support is still deeply appreciated. Gifts of any size help make gatherings like this possible and sustain our work across Nashville.

Love in Action: A Community Open House at The Nashville Food Project

As Nashville continues to recover from Winter Storm Fern, the impacts of the storm remain present for many neighbors across the city. While the immediate emergency has passed, the work of care, nourishment, and recovery continues.

On Thursday, February 12, 2026, we will host Love in Action: A Community Open House, an evening gathering that centers connection, gratitude, and the nonprofit partnerships that make this work possible.

The event will take place from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at The Nashville Food Project, located at 5904 California Avenue in Nashville. The gathering is open to the public, and registration is free.

Our mission remains steady. We bring people together to cultivate community and alleviate hunger in our city, before, during, and after moments of disruption. Winter Storm Fern underscored how essential partnership and coordination are to ensuring food continues to reach neighbors when systems are strained.

Love in Action is an opportunity to pause, reconnect, and honor the nonprofit partners who help carry this work forward every day. These partners are on the front lines of supporting neighbors across Nashville, and our Community Meals partnerships allow them to remain focused on their core work while we provide warm, nourishing meals that move through their programs.

During the evening, guests are invited to enjoy light refreshments, spend time connecting with one another, and take part in a hands-on service project creating Valentine’s cards and small treats for our meal partners. A photo booth will be available, and a brief presentation will highlight the powerful, poverty-disrupting work our partners continue to lead across the city.

This gathering is not a fundraiser or a formal program. It is simply a moment to be together, to acknowledge the challenges of the past weeks, and to honor the relationships that sustain our community, especially in times of disruption.

As recovery continues across Nashville, we believe care is something we practice together. We invite neighbors, partners, and community members to join us for an evening rooted in connection, creativity, and gratitude.

Event Details

Love in Action: A Community Open House
Thursday, February 12, 2026
5:30–8:00 PM
The Nashville Food Project
5904 California Avenue
Nashville, TN 37209

Registration is free. Media and community members are welcome.

Building a Caring Community

Care is rarely dramatic.

More often, it is steady. It looks like meals prepared on schedule. Routes driven again. Kitchens opened on cold mornings. Volunteers returning, not for recognition, but because someone is counting on them.

For many of our neighbors, especially seniors and those who rely on regular meals, care is not an occasional kindness. It is a necessity shaped by consistency. Hunger does not pause for weather or calendars. Nourishment must remain reliable if it is to be dignified.

For us, care takes the form of rhythm. Food is grown, recovered, prepared, and shared not only in moments of urgency, but day after day. Seniors living on fixed incomes. Neighbors managing chronic illness. People navigating isolation. For them, a steady meal is more than food. It is reassurance. It is stability. It is the quiet knowledge that someone remembered.

This kind of care is built over time. Through repetition. Through trust earned slowly. Through systems designed to endure and people willing to carry responsibility together. It is not flashy work. But it is faithful work.

We often measure impact in numbers, and those numbers matter. But the deeper story of care lives in consistency. In the volunteer who learns a delivery route by heart. In the cook who prepares each meal with the same attention, whether the room is full or nearly empty. In the neighbor who opens their door each week knowing that care will arrive as promised.

Caring community is not built only in moments of crisis. It is built through reliability. Through showing up even when it is cold. Especially then.

This is how nourishment becomes human. Not as charity, but as relationship. Not as a one time response, but as a shared practice. Some neighbors depend on this work, and that dependence is not a failure. It is a reflection of our shared life together.

As this work continues, we remain grateful for everyone who makes steady care possible. The volunteers who return. The partners who remain committed. The supporters who understand that consistency is its own form of generosity.

Supporting neighbors day after day is how caring community takes shape.

Supporting neighbors, day after day
Steady care

Get involved:
Volunteer | Give Food | Donate

Winter Storm Fern Resources

Many of our Nashville neighbors continue to navigate the impacts of Winter Storm Fern. In moments like this, access to clear, reliable information matters. Below are trusted local resources to help neighbors stay safe, warm, and supported as recovery continues.

Last updated on January 31, 2026

COMPILED RESOURCES:

Food & Nutrition

2-1-1 RESOURCE CONNECTION

United Way provides 2-1-1 as a vital community service to help you connect to the resources you need. Specialists are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CST.

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WARM MEALS BY MADISON COMMUNITY CO-OP

OPEN DAILY | 752 MADISON SQUARE MADISON, TN 37115

11:00 am - Warm breakfast and the community space is open with family friendly activities

1:00 pm - Warm lunch and resources

5:30 pm - 8:00 pm - Warm dinner *7:00 pm

Shuttle will pickup at bring people to the shelter

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Mobile Pantry by by One Generation Away

Centennial High School | 5050 Mallory Ln

Saturday, January 31 | Distribution begins around 8:45 a.m.

Note: This distribution includes fresh produce and shelf-stable dry goods. Warm meals are not available at this site.

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Life & Safety

Medical Support

If you or someone with you is experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

For non-urgent medical needs, you may contact the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center to speak with an on-call physician: 615-327-9400

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Transportation to Warming Stations

Call 615-401-1712
When calling, please be ready to share your name, location, number of people needing transportation, mobility needs, and whether you have pets.

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Transportation to Emergency Shelters

Call 615-844-3399
This line provides access to emergency shelter transportation, including Nashville Rescue Mission, Room In The Inn, and overflow shelter locations.

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Warming shelters

They are available in Davidson, Dickson, Hickman, Montgomery, Robertson, and Williamson Counties.

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Travel & Cleanup

Road Conditions

For the most up-to-date information on road closures and driving conditions across Tennessee, visit Tennessee Department of Transportation SmartWay.

Please use caution when traveling and avoid unnecessary trips when possible.

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Power Outages in Davidson County

If you are experiencing a power outage or need updated information, contact Nashville Electric Service.

Report an outage by phone: 615-234-0000 (available 24/7)
Text “OUT” to 637797 (NESPWR)
View outage maps and updates: nespower.com

If you see a downed power line, please stay away and call 911 immediately. Even lines that appear inactive can be dangerous.

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Property cleanup assistance

The Crisis Cleanup Hotline connects residents with volunteer groups who may be able to help with storm-related cleanup.

Crisis Cleanup Hotline: 844-965-1386
Available through February 13th.

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Recovery & Support

Replacement SNAP benefits

Neighbors who lost food due to power outages may be eligible for replacement SNAP benefits through the Tennessee Department of Human Services.

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HOTEL DISCOUNTS FOR RESIDENTS

Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp and local hospitality partners are offering discounted lodging for residents displaced by the storm. Rates typically range from $70–$200 and require proof of residency.

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Caring for One Another

Extreme weather reminds us how interconnected we are. If you are able, consider checking in on neighbors nearby, especially those who may have limited mobility, rely on refrigerated medications, or face barriers to staying warm and nourished.

We encourage partners, volunteers, and community members to share these resources with anyone who may need them. Care and safety matter deeply in moments like this, and small acts of attention can make a meaningful difference.

Our hearts are with our neighbors as the city recovers. We look forward to resuming our work as soon as conditions allow, and we remain grateful for the community that continues to show up for one another.

Please stay tuned for additional updates.

Anatomy of a Meal

Have you ever wondered what it takes to place a hot, nourishing meal in a neighbor’s hands? For us, a meal does not begin in the kitchen. It begins much earlier.

What follows is a careful, collective process shaped by stewardship, skill, and care. It is the work of turning surplus into nourishment, and nourishment into connection.

Recovery

The first step is recovery. Across Nashville, food that is still fresh and abundant is often left without a destination. We work alongside grocers, farmers, markets, restaurants, and individuals to recover food that would otherwise go to waste. This is not about scraps or leftovers. It is about recognizing the value of food that has already been grown, harvested, and prepared with care.

Recovering food is an act of responsibility. It acknowledges that hunger and waste exist side by side, and that abundance can be redirected toward justice when we choose to act.

Prep and Cook

Once recovered, food moves into our kitchens. Here, volunteers, cooks, and staff prepare meals from scratch, guided by skill and intention. Vegetables are washed and chopped. Recipes are tested and refined. Meals are prepared with the understanding that the people who will receive them deserve food that is nourishing, thoughtful, and well made.

Cooking is where transformation becomes visible. Ingredients become meals. Surplus becomes sustenance. And strangers become neighbors through shared effort.

Delivery

Meals do not remain in our kitchens. They travel outward, carried by partnerships and logistics that make access possible. Through coordination with nonprofit partners across the city, meals are delivered to places where they can be shared with care and dignity.

Delivery is not simply about transportation. It is about trust. It depends on relationships built over time and a shared commitment to meeting people where they are.

Shared with Care

The final step happens around tables, in community spaces, and through organizations doing vital work across Nashville. Meals are served alongside programs that support children, seniors, immigrants, and unhoused neighbors. In these moments, food becomes more than nutrition. It becomes an expression of hospitality and belonging.

A meal shared with care communicates something essential. You matter. You are welcome. You are not alone.

Impact

Every meal tells a larger story. It is a story of hunger addressed and waste reduced. It is a story of volunteers showing up, partners collaborating, and systems working together in service of the common good.

This work fights hunger by increasing access to consistent nourishment. It reduces waste by honoring the value of food already grown. And it builds community by creating spaces where people come together around a shared table.

Be Part of the Journey

The anatomy of a meal is a collective effort. It relies on people who believe that good food should not be wasted and that neighbors deserve to be nourished with dignity.

If you want to be part of this transformation, there are many ways to get involved. Whether through volunteering, donating food, or offering financial support, your participation helps keep this cycle of care moving forward.

Together, we turn what might be thrown away into meals that strengthen our community, one plate at a time.

Steady Care on the Ground: Community Mapping in North Nashville

Care shows up where people pay attention.

In North Nashville, the ordinary work of getting through the day often carries extra weight. A walk to the bus stop. A trip to the grocery store. A short stretch of sidewalk. Broken pavement, missing curb ramps, and poorly maintained bus stops shape how neighbors move and whether food, services, and community spaces are truly within reach.

For the people who live here, none of this is a surprise. Neighbors know where the gaps are. They know what is broken. They know which places feel safe and which do not. What is often missing is a way for that knowledge to be seen, recorded, and taken seriously when decisions are made about transportation, safety, and access.

This is where community mapping matters.

On Saturday, February 7, we will gather volunteers in North Nashville to serve as Community Mappers. Together, we will walk through ZIP code 37208, documenting sidewalk conditions, bus stop safety, and walkability. This work helps ensure that conversations about food access and transportation begin with lived experience rather than assumption.

Community mapping is a form of care. It is an act of attention. By walking alongside neighbors and recording what is already known on the ground, we help make visible the conditions that shape daily life. The information gathered will become resident verified data that can support advocacy with WeGo Public Transit and Metro Nashville, strengthening efforts to improve sidewalk safety, transit access, and food justice.

Reliable meals depend on reliable pathways. For seniors, families, and neighbors who rely on public transportation, safety and accessibility are part of nourishment itself. Food access cannot be separated from the systems that determine how people move through their community.

No technical experience is required. Volunteers are asked to wear comfortable walking shoes, dress for the weather, and be prepared to spend most of the time outdoors. The work is simple. Its impact lasts.

As we focus this month on Building a Caring Community, this event reflects what care looks like in practice. Showing up. Paying attention. Standing with neighbors. Doing the quiet work that makes shared life more possible.

If you are interested in becoming a Community Mapper and helping build safer, more accessible pathways in North Nashville, we invite you to join us.

Community Mapping Event
Saturday, February 7, 2026
12:00 to 3:00 PM CST
Starting at The Nashville Food Project: 5904 California Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209, US

Together, we can help ensure that care extends beyond the plate and into the pathways that shape daily life.

Beginning the Year Together

January offers a moment to pause and reflect on what we have built together.

At its core, food justice is a commitment to consistent access to nourishing food. Not only in moments of crisis, but every day. It asks us to look beyond emergency response and toward the systems that shape how food moves through a city, and who is able to access it.

In Nashville, food access is shaped by income, transportation, and geography. Some neighborhoods are close to grocery stores and fresh food outlets. Others face longer distances, limited transit options, or higher food costs. Over time, these differences affect health, stability, and dignity.

Over the past 15 years, our community responded together. Through food recovery, gardening, cooking, and partnerships, surplus food was redirected. Fresh produce was grown and shared. Meals were prepared with care and offered in collaboration with organizations across the city. This work reflects more than distribution. It reflects shared responsibility.

Food justice recognizes that hunger is not simply about a lack of food. It is about access, infrastructure, and the choices communities make to care for one another. When we invest in long-term solutions, we strengthen not only individual well-being, but the health of the entire community.

As we begin a new year, we do so grounded in what we have already accomplished and attentive to what is still possible. There is more to grow, more to learn, and more to build together.

Stay connected. Step into the year with us.

Building Inspired Community

The beginning of a year invites reflection. Not only on what lies ahead, but on what has already been built.

We start each new season grounded in memory, grateful for the work carried out by many hands, and attentive to the ways that shared effort becomes shared life.

Last year, we grew more than food. We grew relationships across gardens and kitchens, partnerships across neighborhoods, and trust across tables where strangers became neighbors. Together, we stewarded land, recovered food that might otherwise have gone to waste, prepared meals with care, and shared nourishment with dignity. These acts may seem ordinary on their own, but together they formed something meaningful. They formed community.

What we built together was not simply a response to need. It was a practice. A commitment to showing up consistently. To believing that food can be a tool for justice, connection, and belonging. To trusting that when people gather around shared work and shared meals, something larger than any one of us takes shape.

As we step into a new year, we do so inspired by that shared impact. The gardens will rest and then awaken again. Kitchens will continue to hum with quiet purpose. Volunteers will return, new faces will join, and partnerships will deepen. The work ahead is not separate from the work behind us. It grows directly from it.

The year ahead asks the same simple and demanding question it always has: how will we care for one another?

Our answer remains rooted in the daily practice of growing, cooking, and sharing food in community. We will keep learning. We will keep listening. We will keep building a food system that reflects abundance rather than scarcity, relationship rather than isolation.

This work is never finished, but it is always worth doing. And it is never done alone.

The year ahead starts here.
Step in together.

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