Planting for the Future

At The Nashville Food Project, we believe food security is built over time through care, stewardship, and shared responsibility. This spring, we’re inviting our community to take part in that work by helping plant a new community orchard at our Community Farm at Mill Ridge.

On March 27 and 28, from 8:15 AM to 12:00 PM, neighbors, volunteers, and partners will gather at 12944 Old Hickory Blvd to plant fruit trees that will nourish our city for years to come. This Orchard Planting Party is open to the public, and no prior gardening experience is required.

Community orchards are long-term investments. They ask us to think beyond a single growing season and consider what sustained nourishment can look like over time. Once established, this orchard will provide fresh fruit for community partners and neighbors, while also serving as a shared space for learning, connection, and stewardship.

The orchard at Mill Ridge will play an important role within our broader Community Agriculture Network, supporting hands-on education and collaborative growing efforts across Nashville. In addition to producing food, the space will serve as a gathering place where people can learn together, work side by side, and deepen relationships through care for the land.

This event reflects our mission to grow, cook, and share nourishing food while cultivating community and alleviating hunger. By inviting people into the planting process, we emphasize that food security is not a short-term solution, but a collective commitment that grows through patience, presence, and care.

Everyone is welcome to join us. Whether it’s your first time planting a tree or you’ve spent years in gardens and farms, there is a place for you in this work. Together, we’ll prepare soil, plant trees, and begin tending something that will continue to give back long after this season.

Event Details

What: Orchard Planting Party
When: March 27–28, 2026 | 8:15 AM–12:00 PM
Where: Community Farm at Mill Ridge, 12944 Old Hickory Blvd., Antioch, Tennessee 37013
Who: Open to the public; no experience necessary

Registration is required. We look forward to growing something lasting together.

Looking Back at Nourish 2025

On July 17, 2025, we gathered for our 15th annual Nourish, presented by Kroger—and what a night it was. We're humbled and incredibly proud to share that Nourish 2025 brought together more than 300 guests and raised nearly $250,000 to support our mission of bringing people together to grow, cook, and share nourishing food.

But beyond the numbers, Nourish was once again a beautiful celebration of community, collaboration, and connection—a night where the table became a place for generosity, shared purpose, and joy.

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An Unforgettable Meal

This year’s all-star chef lineup included teams from:

• Bad Idea

• Curry Boys BBQ

• S.S. Gai

• Tantísimo

• Turkey and the Wolf Icehouse

• Saap Saap BBQ (unable to attend due to a family emergency)

Each chef brought a distinctive voice and vision to the meal, creating a multi-course experience that reflected diverse cultures, techniques, and a shared love for food. One of the evening’s most inspiring moments was witnessing these chefs collaborate in real time—helping one another plate, prep, and bring each dish to life with care and camaraderie.

We also premiered a behind-the-scenes chef video, highlighting their visit to the Growing Together Farm—and what fuels their passion for food and community.

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Honoring Our Volunteer Hero: Theresa McCurdy

One of the evening’s most heartfelt moments was the presentation of the Thomas Williams Golden Skillet Award, which honors an outstanding volunteer who embodies the spirit of our work. This year, we were thrilled to present the award to Theresa McCurdy, who has quietly and faithfully given over 440 volunteer hours since 2022.

Theresa’s steady presence, compassion, and commitment have made her an integral part of our kitchen community. Her story is a powerful reminder that it’s not just meals we’re making—it’s community, built one kind gesture at a time.

The Thomas Williams Golden Skillet Award, established in 2017, recognizes a volunteer who has shown deep dedication to the work of The Nashville Food Project. Its namesake Thomas Williams is the founder of Nourish.

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Raising Paddles, Raising Hope

This year’s Night of Giving was especially impactful thanks to a $20,000 matching gift, which helped double the power of every contribution made that evening. From $5,000 pledges to $100 gifts, the generosity in the room was overwhelming and deeply inspiring.

Thanks to the support of individual donors and corporate partners, we’ll be able to share tens of thousands more nourishing meals with our neighbors in the months ahead.

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With Gratitude to Our Sponsors

Nourish 2025 would not have been possible without our generous sponsors. We are deeply grateful to the following partners:

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Looking Ahead

Nourish isn’t just an annual event—it’s a reflection of our ongoing work and the community that makes it possible. Whether you were with us in person or supporting from afar, thank you for helping us grow this movement.

Together, we’re building a more food-secure, connected, and resilient Nashville. One meal. One garden. One relationship at a time.

TNFP Volunteers Honored at Hands On Nashville Strobel Volunteer Awards

Each year, our friends at Hands On Nashville/United Way honor dedicated volunteers across Middle TN for their commitment to service through the Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards. Named after Mary Catherine Strobel, an activist and community leader. This May, The Nashville Food Project had the honor of two of our nominations being selected as finalists!

Marcie Smeck Bryant, a beloved board member and leader in fostering community meals across Nashville, took home the award for Social Justice Impact. Cheri Ferrari, a longtime kitchen volunteer, pie extraordinaire, and "pie-oneer" of our Volunteer Lead Program, was among the top three finalists for the Charles Strobel Legacy Award. Check out more of their stories below!

Marcie Smeck Bryant - Social Justice Impact Award Recipient

Since before we were officially known as The Nashville Food Project, Marcie Smeck Bryant has been a dedicated volunteer—sharing her time, heart, and energy to support our neighbors across Nashville. She plays a key role in our community meals program, showing up every Tuesday to deliver and share meals at Trinity Community Commons (TCC), where neighbors—housed and unhoused alike—gather to eat, connect, and support one another through daily challenges.

In addition to her on-the-ground work, Marcie has served on our board since 2023 and chairs our Strategy Committee, where she played a key role in shaping a new strategic communications plan designed to support and advance our broader organizational strategy.

Marcie is also a leader in Nashville's "community meals" movement, helping launch a weekly dinner at Belmont United Methodist Church that brings neighbors together around food and mutual support. Beyond the TCC and Belmont meals, she's contributed to FeedBack Nashville workshops—a collaborative effort to envision a more equitable and accessible food system in our city. Marcie's steadfast commitment to strengthening her community through food is not only inspiring—it's a model we strive to emulate at The Nashville Food Project.

Cheri Ferrari - Charles Strobel Legacy Award Finalist

Cheri Ferrari is the living "embodiment of hospitality," a quality that has defined her service since she began volunteering with The Nashville Food Project in 2015. With her warmth, generosity, and tireless commitment, Cheri invites every volunteer who comes through the doors to "be part of our joy." Her dedication to making everyone feel welcome and valued has not only enriched TNFP's culture but created a ripple effect of positivity that keeps volunteers returning time and time again.

As a Volunteer Prep Lead, Cheri is often the first person new volunteers meet, greeting everyone with her characteristic warmth and enthusiasm. On Monday mornings and Tuesday nights, when Cheri is leading, the energy is palpable—as laughter and chatter echo through the kitchen. From remembering everyone's favorite pie or dessert to staying hours after her scheduled shift to support our Meals Team, Cheri approaches every interaction with love and authenticity. Her ability to make volunteers feel connected and valued speaks to the core of our mission, demonstrating the transformative power of her service.

Want to hear more about Cheri and Marcie? Check out their stories—along with those of all the other inspiring finalists and winners on United Way of Greater Nashville's YouTube channel!

YouTube Links:

Marcie Smeck Bryant - 2025 Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards | Social Justice

Cheri Ferrari - 2025 Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards | Charles Strobel Legacy of Service

The Community Agriculture Network Is Live—And Growing!

Last fall, we shared our vision for The Nashville Food Project's Community Agriculture Network (CAN)—a collective of community gardens and small-scale urban farms working together to grow food and share resources across the city. This initiative is a key part of our broader mission to cultivate community and alleviate hunger throughout Nashville.

Today, we're thrilled to announce the Community Agriculture Network (CAN) is officially live! This milestone marks the beginning of a deeper, more connected approach to community-based agriculture across our city. And it's already bearing fruit.

What Is the Community Agriculture Network?

The Community Agriculture Network (CAN) is a collaboration of growing spaces—community gardens, church plots, urban farms, and orchards—each managed by trusted leaders in their respective communities. These sites are independently managed but supported by TNFP through shared tools, technical assistance, access to seed and compost, and a network of volunteers and educators.

Rooted in a hub-and-spoke model, TNFP serves as the "hub," providing the backbone infrastructure—training, coordination, and technical support—so each community "spoke" can thrive in its own unique way.

Whether it is a refugee grower, a pastor, a long-time resident, or a youth leader at the helm, each garden reflects the culture, needs, and leadership of its neighborhood.

This work stems from a simple yet radical belief: healthy food is a human right—not a privilege. Community-grown food can be a powerful solution to hunger, health inequities, and social disconnection.

Current Community Agriculture Network (CAN) sites include:

• Community Farm at Mill Ridge (Antioch)

• McGruder Community Garden (North Nashville)

• Growing Together Farm & Market (Haywood)

• Alameda Christian Church Garden (Bordeaux)

• South End United Methodist Church Garden (South Nashville)

Welcoming Our First Two Partner Gardens

Two of our newest network members are church-based sites that share our belief in food as a ministry of care and community:

• Alameda Christian Church Garden. This Bordeaux site began with a clear call from the congregation: use the land to feed the community. Since joining the network, Alameda has become a space where herbs, tomatoes, and leafy greens thrive—shared through both ministry meals and informal neighborhood distributions. TNFP has helped with bed design, seedling starts, and volunteer coordination.

• South End United Methodist Church Garden. At South End, the church's mission to serve neighbors led them to start a garden that's now blossoming with produce and possibility. With support from TNFP—think compost delivery, irrigation guidance, and a few muddy workdays—the garden now grows food for congregants, local pantries, and fellowship gatherings. It has become a space where people gather not just to work but to connect.

We're deeply grateful to these church teams—and to TNFP Staff Members Cacey and Patty—for the dedication, joy, and hard work that brought these gardens to life. 

How the Network Works

Through the Community Agriculture Network (CAN), TNFP provides partner gardens with:

• Volunteer recruitment and coordination

• Site planning, infrastructure & compost support 

• Garden leader training

• Outreach and educational programming

• Produce distribution & market strategies 

• Access to tools, seeds, compost, and water

• Help with storytelling, fundraising & grant writing 

We also support individual growers at McGruder and Mill Ridge with plot sizes and fees designed to make gardening truly accessible. Gardeners can grow for themselves, their families, or their communities—no one is turned away due to an inability to pay.

Want to Get Involved?

There are so many ways to dig in—literally.

🌿 Volunteer. All sites welcome volunteers. Whether you're a seasoned grower or a first-time gardener, there's a place for you in our gardens.

🌿 Rent a Plot. Looking to grow your own food? We have rental plots available at both McGruder and Mill Ridge.

🌿 Become a Partner Garden. We're now accepting applications for new garden partners to join the network in 2026. Applications are accepted at any time, with priority given to those submitted by August 1, 2025. Click here to apply now →

A Growing Future

In a city where many residents still live in neighborhoods with limited food access, this is about more than just gardens. It's about creating a stronger, more resilient food system rooted in the neighborhoods and faith communities of Nashville.

And we are just getting started. We hope you'll join us in cultivating a food system where everyone has a seat at the table—and a hand in growing what's on it.

With Heart and Hustle: Celebrating the Volunteers Who Feed Our City

“I leave each volunteer session knowing I’ve helped make a difference. And along the way, I’ve made some great friends. ”

— Sue Wright, Community Meals Volunteer Lead

It’s National Volunteer Appreciation Week, and we’re celebrating the people who make our mission possible: our incredible volunteers!

In 2024, over 1,600 volunteers spent 9,000 hours helping The Nashville Food Project by growing, cooking, and sharing with us. From chopping onions to shoveling compost, our volunteers show up with heart, hands, and a whole lot of hustle.

This year we’ve already experienced an outpouring of love and support from our incredible volunteer community. The energy and generosity we’ve seen recently is nothing short of inspiring. So far this year, volunteers helped prepare and distribute over 86,000 meals across 53 meal partner sites in Nashville. In the gardens, volunteers have worked side by side with community members to clean up plots and distribute compost, helping us kick off the growing season strong. 

But numbers alone don’t tell the whole story.

At The Nashville Food Project, we often say that food is the vessel, but community is the mission. In the face of increasing food costs, diminishing government assistance, and broader uncertainty, the feeling of connection and care we see in our volunteer community is more treasured than ever.

One group that embodies this spirit is our Tuesday and Wednesday evening kitchen crew. Rain, tornado, or shine, this lively crew shows up every week to prep meals, laugh over wonky carrots, and always leave the kitchen spotless (even if that means staying late). What began as a volunteer shift has, over time, turned into a little family.

Abhinav Krishnan, who joined the Tuesday crew after moving back to Nashville last year, says he was looking for a way to give back and connect with people who care about sustainability and food justice. He found working in the kitchen is the perfect way to engage with his community and uplift Nashville’s local food system.

“Our little army of volunteers save tons of fading produce from the landfill and turn them into nourishing meals for the community. Every head of lettuce represents not just waste averted, but a body nourished.”

— Abhinav Krishnan, Volunteer

Sue Wright, one of our incredible Volunteer Leads, steers the ship each Wednesday evening. Sue first volunteered with her daughter, and says she was hooked from day one. “We started with salads and dressing containers,” she laughed. “Now it’s just part of my week. I get to do something good and be with people I genuinely enjoy.”

We’re so grateful to have so many wonderful volunteers like Abhinav and Sue, who demonstrate our values of hospitality and service so well! Thank you to all our volunteers — whether you’ve been with us for years or just joined us this season. You bring our mission to life. Your time, energy, and heart make our work possible, and our community stronger.

This National Volunteer Appreciation Week, we celebrate you — not just for what you do, but for who you are.

From all of us at The Nashville Food Project: we’re so grateful you’re part of our family.

Author Maggie Atchley is often the first person volunteers meet as The Nashville Food Project’s Volunteer Engagement Manager.

Jenn's Season of Food with Friends

“Food is the centerpiece of all my relationships.”

— Jenn Crim, volunteer at The Nashville Food Project

Jenn arrives as usual to the Tuesday evening volunteer session at our kitchen with several grocery bags in tow, filled to the brim with cans of black beans, bags of rice, bottles of oil and applesauce cups for our pantry. The occasion? A week before, she had a group of friends over to celebrate her newly-finished cookbook and saw it as an opportunity to host a food drive.

That’s right: earlier this year, Jenn wrote, photographed, edited, and designed her own cookbook — a labor of love that aimed to preserve the meals that got her through a tough season. Food has always been central to Jenn’s life, from growing up in a close-knit Italian family to forging friendships around the table here in Nashville. Her grandmother's cheesecake, a cherished but undocumented recipe, inspired her to create a cookbook to ensure her own recipes could be passed on to her loved ones.

The cookbook, aptly titled “A Season of Food with Friends,” is a celebration of the foods that have acted as invitations to connect with others throughout her life, from childhood memories all the way through present day. It includes recipes that feel like home to her (and even a buffalo chicken dip recipe originally inspired by a salad dressing she helped make at the Food Project!). The cookbook itself is a gift to her community: she’s not selling any copies, but is happy to share it with anyone who wants one.

The process of creating her cookbook became a community project in itself. Because she’s not much of a recipe-follower, Jenn wrote the book by actually making her favorite dishes and recording each step she took to bring them to life. The abundance of food from her recipe research resulted in countless impromptu dinner parties: joyful celebrations of food and friendship, shared meals with friends experiencing big life moments, and casual weeknight snack hours. “If I was going to make all that food anyways, I wanted to gather my friends to eat it together,” she explains.  

Jenn’s journey with The Nashville Food Project began when she moved to Nashville and sought a way to give back to a city that, as she puts it, "people tend to take from." At the time, the Food Project was still working out of the little kitchen at Woodmont Christian Church, which happened to be across the street from her condo. After an evening spent delivering and serving the community meal at Trinity Community Commons, she knew that this was where she wanted to give. Jenn has become a regular fixture in our Tuesday night prep group and is slated to reach the celebrated milestone of 50 volunteer hours by the end of 2024.

“Food is such a powerful way to bring people together,” Jenn says. “Volunteering here lets me unplug and share that connection with others while giving back to a community I care about.”

We’re so grateful for volunteers like Jenn, whose warmth and creativity reminds us all of the power of food to create community.

Sustaining Change: Three Years of Block to Block

In a world of instant gratification, there’s something to be said for things that grow steadily over time — like a well-tended garden. And just like a garden requires patience, care, and dedication to showing up, so does the level of teamwork needed to create lasting change across communities. For the last three years, Love, Tito’s, the philanthropic heart of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, has supported The Nashville Food Project as part of its Block to Block program, with each project building on the last to work toward community food security in Nashville. 

One of our core values at the Food Project is hospitality, which we understand in part as investing in building relationships, acknowledging that this takes time. The Love, Tito’s Block to Block program has embodied this value over the last three years, consistently galvanizing groups of volunteers to get involved with community agriculture and offering long-term infrastructure support to accommodate even more growers and their families. In doing so, the folks at Tito’s are achieving their own goals to help make fresh, healthy food more accessible.

“We’re so grateful to have had the chance to work alongside The Nashville Food Project these last three years, helping this incredible organization further cultivate community and increase access to fresh food through the greater Nashville area. Our Love, Tito’s Block to Block program is all about bringing community together — one block at a time — and The Nashville Food Project team is truly doing that for our city.””

— Trip Cobb, Field Sales Director for Tito's Handmade Vodka

In 2022, Tito’s helped us install blueberry bushes and an educational pavilion at The Community Farm at Mill Ridge, helping to make the space hospitable for the multigenerational families that grow there. Last year’s efforts were focused on adding a greenhouse at another community agriculture site, the Growing Together farm, where farmers from immigrant and refugee backgrounds grow food sold via a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model to local families.

2024 marked a return to Mill Ridge to build on the work done in 2022. We gathered about 50 volunteers from both Tito’s and its local distributor, Lipman Brothers, at the farm. A quick show of hands indicated that a number of folks had returned for their second and even third year, giving up a morning to help us dig holes and shovel compost. 

On a bright Friday morning, this fantastic bunch divided into groups to install a pollinator garden, prepare four large new garden beds, clear brush and brambles from a particularly thorny area of the farm to make way for a food forest, and paint rain barrels that act as a supplementary water supply to the entire farm. They did so with joyful attitudes and happy chatter — even though some of the projects were really hard!

On top of this day-of work, Tito’s is contributing to the long-term garden production at the farm by helping to expand infrastructure with support for a new greenhouse and a community refrigerator. The greenhouse will be used by Food Project staff to grow transplants for community members interested in at-home gardening, while also offering community gardeners the opportunity to use the space for their own transplants starting in the 2025 growing season. The outdoor local produce fridge will improve community members’ access to fresh produce grown at the farm, fostering greater access to locally grown, nutritious food. 

The Community Farm at Mill Ridge is home to around 65 gardening families and hundreds of species of veggies, flowers, and herbs. While one side of the farm is dedicated to communal-style production that shares the entirety of its harvest with the community, the majority of the space is stewarded by individual plot holders, many of whom have limited access to land and resources to grow their own food. Thanks to Tito’s help, the entirety of the farm is now about three and a half acres, but there is room to grow — once the site is fully developed, it will be seven acres. 

We hope to fully develop the space by 2027, and we’re grateful for Tito’s for bringing that hope within reach. Together, we’ve accomplished more than just expanding the farm — we’ve built a foundation for a more sustainable and equitable future in Nashville.

Come Be A Part Of Our Joy

By Maggie Atchley, Volunteer Engagement Manager

This past Friday, volunteers from our kitchens, gardens, and everything in between gathered for our annual Volunteer Celebration Lunch, an event to show gratitude to all of the many hands and hearts that help sustain our collective work toward community food security. In the wake of this event, I have been reflecting on my first couple of months working as the Volunteer Engagement Manager for The Nashville Food Project and all of the love and welcoming I have received from our volunteer family during this time.

When I started with The Nashville Food Project, I was struck by the passion and dedication of our volunteers. Immediately, I recognized something special about these individuals, who always showed up and were so deeply involved and invested in our mission. The energy around The Nashville Food Project was unlike anything I had experienced before and while I struggled to put words to it at first, I found that our late founder Tallu Schulyer Quinn captured this energy perfectly in her book What We Wish Were True:

“My experience is that this work has always been heavy and unglamorous, but it has been joyful. Working with one’s hands… has a wonderful way of flossing out the mind. Hauling this stuff to and from for the last decade and making something meaningful has been messy and strenuous and yet somehow joyous. Our slogan internally at The Food Project evolved to become ‘come be part of our joy.’ And anyone who’s hung out at The Nashville Food Project for any amount of time knows that there is a constant, vibrant chaos that’s in passionate, hopeful pursuit of what we think is possible for Nashville, and what we believe Nashvillians are capable of doing together to wail against the symptoms of poverty. Wendell Berry says, ‘good work is a source of pleasure,’ and that is what comes to my mind when I remember our stories.”

— Tallu Schuyler Quinn

On my first day at the Food Project, I dove in with our incredible Monday afternoon volunteers at St. Luke’s to witness this “vibrant chaos” firsthand. I watched a whirlwind of energy as Beth, Scott, Leslie, Amy and Denise turned a random assortment of food donations into almost 100 individual meals to be shared with homebound seniors, unable to cook for themselves. My amazement was admittedly coupled with some concern, as I watched a high-speed episode of Chopped unfold before me and made mental notes to study up on the show when I got home. But even in my confusion and worry that I wasn’t up to the task, I felt the joy bubbling inside that kitchen, as we laughed over Denise’s Steel Magnolias impressions and helped one another craft colorful, nutritional meals for the seniors we were serving. 

What I’ve discovered since then is that this joy wasn’t unique to that one afternoon; it’s woven into the fabric of our daily work. Whether it’s learning how to shape challah rolls with Rob and his team from West End Synagogue, indulging in fresh tomatoes straight from the vine with Stephen and Maddie at Mill Ridge, or receiving a delicious homemade apple pie from Cheri after a casual mention of my fondness for apple desserts, I’ve heard the phrase “come be a part of our joy” repeated time and again in the actions of our volunteers. 

This community has welcomed me with open arms, teaching me the importance of connection, collaboration, and the sheer joy of creating something meaningful together. Your generosity of time, spirit, and knowledge has made my transition into this role an absolute delight.

As I reflect on last week’s Volunteer Celebration Lunch and my past few months as part of this community, I’m filled with gratitude for each of you. Thank you for embodying that joy and for allowing me to be a part of this vibrant journey. With every weed pulled and apple chopped, we are together not just alleviating hunger; we are cultivating a community rooted in hope and shared purpose.

Volunteer Appreciation Week: Community in the Kitchen

It’s National Volunteer Appreciation Week, and we’re celebrating the incredible folks who show up daily to chop veggies, shovel compost, mix dressings, and even sharpen knives! These simple, sometimes un-glamorous tasks are the backbone of the Food Project — but the community members that lend their hands to this work each day are the heart.

In the kitchen, volunteers keep us afloat. The hundreds of unique volunteer hours given each month make it possible for our team to produce 6,500 meals each week — in fact, every single meal that comes out of our kitchen includes some contribution from volunteers, be it colorful assembled salads, diced roasted potatoes, or a chicken pasta bake that volunteers took the time to shred.

The best thing about our volunteers, though, is the community they cultivate by bringing their generosity, creativity, and positivity to our space. If you walk through the headquarters kitchen during a prep session, you’ll see strangers becoming friends as they blend smoothies, or a corporate volunteer group dancing along to the music as they work through a container of strawberries at their cutting boards.

Our friend Madison is an incredible example of community during the time she frequently gives us at evening prep sessions, which she brings energy and life to despite having worked a full day at her job. She’s been volunteering with us since 2021 and we feel lucky to count her among our regulars!

“Madison is exactly who you want to be partnered with when volunteering in the kitchen,” explains Hannah, a former staff member who still shows up often to volunteer. “She's so funny and fun to talk to, she's fast and efficient at any prep task, and she knows how to find anything you need in the kitchen. We're so grateful to Madison for her dedication to The Nashville Food Project over the years and the energy she brings to any prep!”

Hannah and Madison volunteering at Meat Conference earlier this year, where The Nashville Food Project recovered over 16,000 pounds of food for our meals program.

Check out this Q&A with Madison:

How do you see your role in this work of building a just and sustainable food system?

I see my role as a TNFP volunteer as a critical piece of TNFP's offering to the community. The TNFP kitchen staff is an amazing team that is enabled by TNFP volunteers to serve even more meals to the community.

It might be hard to see the impact of a 2 hour shift when you're surrounded by stacks of veggies to chop, but at the end of a volunteer shift, when everything is prepped and ready to be used, you can really see the magnitude of the team’s work.

I also see TNFP as a learning experience for myself as I have become more aware of food waste and up-cycling at home and in my personal grocery shopping.

What excites you about the vision of a world with a just and sustainable food system?

I've learned a lot about TNFP's vision in my time volunteering here. Some of which, I had not thought about much before — i.e., the need for nutritious meals in food insecure communities beyond just providing a meal. Most importantly, I've experienced the power of community and sharing goals, tasks, and meals together as such. I've learned the most from the sheer magnitude of the meals we prepare and have gained a lot of perspective through the simple tasks of chopping and portioning.

What about this work brings you hope?

I am motivated by the teamwork and community that TNFP creates. From the staff to the other volunteers, I have met so many people across different backgrounds, all while preparing meals for different groups across the city. It's very common for me to get stuck in my friend group or within my work industry, so meeting people outside of that really has shown me the power of community, and there's something really exciting to me about preparing meals as a community that are going out to even more communities across our city.

Denise and Amy: Sisters from Another Mister

By Arianna Nimocks, Volunteer Engagement Manager

“I HATE possums, which Amy knows very well. She gleefully had her husband and sons leave a very-much alive possum in a bucket on my front porch. When I screamed, slammed the door and locked it, her family mocked me further by letting the nasty creature swing by its tail from their finger outside my living room window!”

(Direct quote from Denise Sesler.)

Amy Lee and Denise Sesler go together like… peas in a pod. Sisters from another mister. As Amy puts it, “Denise is an extrovert who will talk to anyone. I’m pretty much the opposite. She makes friends wherever we go; I make jokes.”

Amy and Denise have been friends since their kids started kindergarten. They didn’t realize they had lived on the same street until then. They clicked, and for the past 20 years have been pretty much inseparable friends. They go on family vacations together, go to concerts, plays, and author events (Michelle Obama twice!), and volunteer together at St. Luke’s Kitchen as a Cook Team on a regular basis. Denise says, “we have survived fighting like sisters, because that’s what we are. Deranged, high-maintenance sisters.” (Correction, from Amy: “one deranged, high maintenance person and one normal functioning person.”)

Over the months I’ve worked with Amy and Denise, I have learned so much (is there a thing as too much?) from their hilarious back-and-forth.

One of Amy’s favorite stories to tell about Denise is this one: “I broke my finger and asked her to take me to the ER. She had to finish drying her hair and applying makeup and didn’t pick me up for almost an hour. Then the nurse asked if she was my mom so there was karma.” Amy adds: “Denise says this an exaggeration, [but] Denise’s husband is on my side.”

Denise responds with, “Amy’s broken finger time frame is a complete exaggeration and I want an attorney!” and “Sadly, the nurse thinking I was Amy’s mom is not an exaggeration, and she has often called me ‘Mom’ ever since.”

Most importantly, I’ve learned about friendship through them and their joint support for the mission of The Nashville Food Project.

Denise began volunteering soon after her friend Tallu Quinn started the organization, and she “has been an enthusiastic supporter ever since.” Denise recruited Amy and they have both been volunteering together for 10 years.

Amy says that her favorite part of volunteering with The Nashville Food Project has been “the camaraderie over the years at St Lukes.” She notes that, “while the staff and volunteers have changed some, the general atmosphere has been a constant. It has always been a group that is working hard, all while having fun, laughing, and enjoying the fellowship of each other. It's good people, doing good work, for a great cause.”

A tight community at St. Luke’s is the “magic sauce,” as one of our evening volunteers, Andrea Pruijssers, put it, of why growing, cooking and sharing is so inextricably woven together with relationships. Volunteers don’t just prepare food together, they become friends and build bridges together.

Denise’s dedication to the Food Project’s mission is profound. She says, “When we share a meal, we share love and community. When we have access to a warm meal, we are strengthened to meet the hardships that come our way. When we prevent food waste where possible, we lessen the growth of landfills and toxins that are released into our air, and we facilitate growth of more food for those in need. When we volunteer with others to bring these things about, we are blessed beyond measure. Good things happen around the table and in the breaking of bread. The Food Project proves that every day.”

Here’s to seeing if Amy and Denise will ever record themselves during one of our prep sessions and create a podcast out of it…! Oh, and, next time you see them, ask them about how they “run” the Nashville marathon. You won’t be disappointed.

Reminding Each Other of the Goodness

By Arianna Nimocks, Meals Volunteer Coordinator

Mary Susan is one of those people that light up a room as soon as they step in. With an incredibly witty and fun sense of humor, storytelling that you could listen to for hours, and a laugh that feels like a warm hug, Mary Susan is an integral part of our community.   

Mary Susan first got involved with The Nashville Food Project after noticing The Nashville Food Project’s trucks at Woodmont Christian Church while running errands, soon after she and her husband moved to Nashville. Coincidentally, soon after, she attended a luncheon where Tallu gave a talk about the Food Project. She says she had wanted to volunteer with “an organization that focused on the hunger issue in our community,” and this talk “convinced [her] that this was what [she] wanted.”

Over the years, Mary Susan has delivered meals as a food truck volunteer and prepped meals at our St. Luke’s Preschool Kitchen. When Covid-19 came around, Mary Susan notes how difficult it was to have to take a step back from participating at the Food Project, especially as she “was very connected with the staff and fellow volunteers.” She says “[volunteers] were all delighted when [they] could return to [their] ‘jobs’.” 

Mary Susan now volunteers on a bi-weekly basis at our Monday afternoon St. Luke’s prep sessions, and has stepped up to help on Tuesday afternoons with fellow volunteer friend, Caren.

Mary Susan has made the Food Project feel like a home since my very first prep session at St. Luke’s. She immediately greeted me with a warm welcome and we talked about our shared love of living in the hill country of San Antonio, Texas. 

“The Nashville Food Project is special in my life,” Mary Susan says. “It allows me to work with uplifting people who remind me of the goodness in our world.” 

We are grateful for Mary Susan’s warmth and heart she brings to our organization. We could not do the work we do without volunteers like Mary Susan!

Leslie’s Reliable Joy

Leslie DiNella’s smile is contagious. 

As soon as Leslie steps foot in the kitchen, she is ready to help. She has been volunteering at The Nashville Food Project since 2014, and has since become an integral member of both the tight-knit community in our satellite kitchen at St. Luke’s Community House as well as our lively headquarters kitchen.    

Leslie shares, “Around 2014 while searching for a volunteer project that I could do with my teenagers around the holidays, I happened on The Nashville Food Project and immediately felt embraced by everyone at the Woodmont location. The mission of growing and cooking healthful food immediately resonated (as I love cooking and eating good food myself!), but I also appreciated that I always met interesting people, was actually being well-utilized as a volunteer, and it was reliably just a joyful place to be!”

“When plans were underway for the California kitchen, I decided to try St. Luke’s since we were all going to have to move and once again I felt like I had landed in a community that was so happily passionate and I am still thrilled to be a part of that.”  

Leslie has stepped up into a leadership role as part of a Cook Team at our headquarters kitchen in addition to a prep volunteer at St. Luke’s. From helping us with roasting veggies to making mummy hot dogs, Leslie is always uplifting everyone in our spaces and leading by her example.  

Apart from volunteering, Leslie is a talented cellist, playing with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra (“Shameless plug,” she says, “Free concerts! See nashvillephilharmonic.org”). “Otherwise,” she says, her time is spent “playing tennis, walking my sweet dog (Olive), traveling with my also-sweet husband (Tom), reading, cooking, volunteering at Norman Binkley Elementary, and waiting for those teenagers-now-young-adults to answer my texts.”

Leslie's passion for good food impacts not only the people she's cooking for, but the people she's cooking with. Anyone who has had the privilege of chopping fruit or making salads with her over the last eight years already knows about her infectious enthusiasm! We’re grateful that after all this time, she’s still making our kitchen a more joyful place to be.

Hard things and simmering soups

Photo by Abigail Bobo, abigailbobo.com.

Post by Elizabeth Langgle-Martin, Community Engagement Manager

“I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.”

-Marge Piercy from “To Be of Use”

As the weather cools and we enter into this new season, I am thinking back on the “fires” our community has faced over these last six months and the storms that we are still navigating. There are many. Devastating local tornados, the uncharted imposition globally of COVID-19, nationwide police brutality highlighting deep-seated systemic racism, our beloved Tallu’s glioblastoma diagnosis… the list is long and daunting. 

However, when I think of this TNFP family, I think of Bianca creating beautiful meals from recovered ingredients other chefs would turn away. I remember Julia last year calmly explaining that cows broke into Mill Ridge’s fields and destroyed crops that represented months of hard work. Without missing a beat, she began to implement a plan to move forward. I think of Tallu writing powerful words of comfort and reflection hours after taxing cancer treatments. I think of Elke and Jake squeegeeing inches of water out of the flooded kitchen in the wee hours of the morning to make sure the meals team could stay on schedule. I think of countless hands that showed up the evening of March 3rd to recover thousands of pounds of meat even while much of the city was still without power. I think of the endless, faithful donations that keep the lights on, the trucks running, the walk-in full, and our team cared for. 

I think of a group of people who knows how to do hard things.  

Garden volunteer extraordinaire, Linda Bodfish once said that when the needs change, we change with them. And as we’ve been in the fields, passing bags along (metaphorically and for some staff, quite literally), there have been moments of clarity when we see the opportunity of these moments of crisis. We are challenged to recenter our work around TNFP’s core values and move in a common rhythm to meet the ever-changing needs of our neighbors. 

We are grateful for those of you who have loved and joined us “in the fields” in so many different seasons. You’ve shown up to unload food donations, broadfork unbroken ground, and stuff envelopes. You’ve organized pantries, chopped onions, hauled compost, and shared stories. 

As we are stretched in new ways to meet new needs and root more deeply to who we have chosen to be, we feel comfort in the steadfast support of this vibrant community. 

As we slowly prepare to reintroduce volunteers into TNFP spaces as part of our phased plan, this season is calling for shift to a smaller and more intentional volunteer presence, a rebirth of our dedication to the best use of donated and recovered food, and a continued, steadfast commitment to supporting increasing the accessibility of agricultural space and high-quality food. Towards the end of October, we will be entering into a trial period to workshop new volunteer roles and systems with a handful of long-term volunteers. We’ll keep you all in the loop as we decide how and when our spaces will be accessible for more hands! 

What’s simmering… from our home kitchens to yours!

If the TNFP crew is passionate about one thing in the home kitchen during the fall, it’s probably soups. Here are some of our faves that are easily adaptable to your own tastes!

Alice Water’s Fall Minestrone (Christa’s Go-To… can you imagine this with veggies right from the fields of Sweeter Days?)

Flavors of Morocco-Inspired Vegetable and Chickpea Stew (David Frease says this is his first soup of the season every year)

Skinny Taste’s No Beans Sweet Potato Chili (a favorite of Meg and myself—though we make it vegetarian by subbing black beans for the ground turkey, so you do you)

Green Soup with Ginger (JJ’s pick for times when you may be feeling under the weather and need a kick)

Carrot Soup with Chermoula (Elke’s been loving this one recently!) 

Beloved Community

Kicking off the day with reflections on Dr. King’s life and message at the Food Project’s headquarters.

Imagine a global community of caring where poverty, hunger and injustice are no more. Hard to picture, right? On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, we celebrate the life of Dr. King and reflect on his dream for a “beloved community” - the ultimate goal of nonviolent activism for peace and justice.

While this vision of a beloved community may seem far from reality, at the Food Project we truly believe that…

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

— Dr. King

As a ‘move forward’ on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we’re grateful to have the support of a grant by the Corporation for National and Community Service! This year, several chapters of The Arc and partner organizations are working together to promote inclusive volunteering, bringing together people with and without disabilities to serve their communities.

For this Day of Service, we partnered with volunteers from the alumni associations of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, and Park Center’s Emerging Adults Services to provide vital food support in the Nashville community.

Volunteers gathered together in the morning for a kick-off meeting, spending time reflecting on the life and message of Dr. King. The Nashville Food Project’s CEO, Tallu Quinn, opened the morning by sharing some thoughts on Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community.

Simba The Poet

We were also honored to welcome Simba Alik Woodard -- also known as Simba The Poet -- a Black, Queer, Trans activist and spoken word artist from Nashville. He has been leading writing workshops and working with youth organizations around the city to contribute to the movement of healing young people through the arts. Simba shared a poem from his recently released book, The Gun That Killed Devin.

At the Food Project, we know that good food alone is not a solution to hunger, poor health, poverty and isolation. That’s why we make sure our nutritious meals and snacks are supporting the vibrant, creative work of anti-poverty and community-building organizations in our city!

MLK day volunteers working at our two commercial kitchens prepped food for 1,299 meals, which TNFP staff will deliver to 22 partner nonprofit program sites across Nashville. Volunteers also assisted with preparing seeds for our production and community gardens, where TNFP grows food for our kitchens and facilitates access to land and garden training for Nashvillians to grow food for themselves and their families.

Chef Bianca

To close the project, volunteers returned to the Food Project’s headquarters to reflect on the day while sharing a meal cooked by our Chef Director, Bianca, inspired by Dr. King’s favorite foods with a Food Project twist: oven baked “fried” chicken, mac & cheese, and salad.

In addition to our event on January 20th, our headquarters kitchen also hosted 15 college-age students from the following schools: Belmont, Fisk, Lipscomb, Meharry, Nashville State, Tennessee State University, Trevecca and Vanderbilt University on Saturday, the 18th. Their time prepping fresh ingredients for our meals program was part of a MLK Joint Day of Service, helping connect over 400 students to special projects in the Nashville area with intention around food access, community beautification and other community needs.

In the true spirit of Dr. King, MLK Day of Service shines a light on what all people can do to love, uplift, and support their neighbors. Feeling inspired to get involved? Click here to learn more about how you can volunteer in The Nashville Food Project’s gardens and kitchens!

An Apron With My Name

By Catherine Mayhew, a regular volunteer in The Nashville Food Project’s kitchens, originally published on her blog The South In My Mouth.

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I want an apron with my name on it.

I stopped working full time in January. I can’t quite bring myself to call it “retired.” But that’s really what it is. One of the nice things about it (there are tons of nice things about it) is I can choose where I want to spend my time and one of my favorite places has become The Nashville Food Project. It satisfies my need to do something involving food and my passion for social justice, particularly these days.

Katie, the catering manager, and a volunteer, Jake. Please note that Jake has his name on his apron.

The Food Project provides healthy nutritious meals for anyone who needs them. It has a beautiful commercial kitchen that receives bounteous donations from a healthy number of food donors plus uses the produce it grows in its own gardens (more like mini-farms). They have an army of volunteers directed by their small, amazingly cheerful and endlessly patient staff.

I started in the “make 20 gallons of fruit salad” station. The fruit salad is part of almost every meal The Project serves. It involves whatever donated fruit is around on any particular day — strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, apples and melons. So many melons. After washing up and donning plastic gloves, I got a knife, a cutting board and commenced to spend two hours cutting fruit. Oh, so much cutting. It got me to wondering would anyone consume all this fruit salad?

As it happens, it’s the number one most requested item. If you are a person of privilege, you regard fresh fruit as the tired but necessary road to a virtuous diet. If you are not and you might get a can of peaches every once in awhile, a fresh fruit salad is a damn miracle.

This is the kind of beautiful produce The Food project works with every day.

After a few weeks of chopping fruit, I noticed a group of volunteers at another station making something more decidedly sophisticated than fruit salad. I wandered over to watch them stuff couscous salad into endive leaves. “What are ya’ll doing?” I said. “We volunteer for the catering program,” they said entirely in unison. I’m lying. But that was the gist of it.

Catering? I would like to be an unpaid caterer. Truly I would. So I just kind of wedged myself in there and haven’t let go since.

The catering arm of The Food Project is just genius. They take donated food, make it fancy and charge other nonprofits a modest fee for their luncheons, banquets and such. It totally goes against all the catering norms where the food is consistent and predictable. For the Food Project, every catering job is different because there’s no telling what kind of product they’ll have around on any given day. There are no standardized recipes. It’s a what the hell, swing for the fences affair every time. So much fun.

Which brings me to the apron. I hadn’t been volunteering very long before I noticed that some of the aprons volunteers were wearing had names on them. Mine didn’t. I always got the anonymous apron. What’s up with that? Turns out when you volunteer a certain number of hours within a certain time period you get you’re own apron and you can take a Sharpie and write your name on it.

In the world of food I used to think I wanted expensive ingredients, fancy equipment and perfection in the kitchen. Turns out all I wanted all along was an apron with my name on it.

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The Nashville Food Project’s catering program is a social enterprise which earns revenue in support of TNFP programming. Learn more about having TNFP cater an event for your organization!

For this Thanksgiving, we’re also offering healthy sides, salads and desserts for purchase to serve alongside your turkey, such as honey balsamic brussels sprouts and mashed butternut squash. All Thanksgiving sales will be done by pre-order online through Sunday, November 17th. Dishes will be ready and available for pick-up at The Nashville Food Project’s headquarters on Tuesday, November 26th or Wednesday, November 27th. You will select your desired pick-up day during check-out.

Click here to check out our Thanksgiving offerings and place your order!

Bonnaroo Service Project Leads to Meaningful Meal Sharing

On the final day of Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival — with bass thumping across the grounds and temperatures in the upper 80’s — a group of strangers gathered under a wide tent and exchanged introductions. It’s the sort of thing that happens throughout the festival weekend — a young man from Alabama making new friends with a couple from Michigan. But in this instance it wasn’t the music entirely that brought about 30 festival-goers together, it was an opportunity to give back. 

Bonnaroo teamed up with a group of varied nonprofits this year — including The Nashville Food Project — to host the festival’s first-ever, onsite service project making meal kits of beans and rice for more than 1,400 people. Oxfam and Eat for Equity shared the use of their space for the project in Bonnaroo’s Planet Roo; Kim Warnick of Calling All Crows spearheaded logistics and pulled in The Outreach Program, a company that packs and ships dry goods meal kits. Bonnaroo handled spreading the word about the volunteer opportunity to festival attendees who showed up to form assembly lines across long tables. Each time a team filled a box of 36 meals, a volunteer clanged a bell and the group cheered.

Members of The Nashville Food Project team helped package the meals and then transported them back to Nashville where TNFP also will be in charge of distribution. Each meal kit comes with a sticker offering tips on adding fresh vegetables to the kits. 

For our first food sharing opportunity with the kits, we took more than 200 meal kits to a housing community in North Nashville. We had learned that a large number of young people live in the apartments and were lacking regular access to school food. Community organizer Otis Carter of The 200 Man Stand offered support and then he helped spread the word. Residents of all ages came out. 

To supplement the meal kits, we took several bins of produce purchased and donated by the Bells Bend Conservation Corridor from area farms — tomatoes, corn, peppers, eggplant, potatoes and summer squash. Our meals team also pulled together snack bags for kids to eat right away including healthy trail mix and orange wedges. Bags of biscuits mix went quickly too.

We believe sharing food is sharing nourishment — as much for spirit and soul as for the body. Procurement and Sustainability Manager David Frease has plans to deliver meals across many of our partner sites. In the meantime, we’re grateful in thinking of all the people and hands who came together to make these meals and help nourish more than 1,400 of our Nashville neighbors.

Triple Your Impact: A Crowdfunding Guide

Each October, we celebrate our volunteers and the contribution that they make to The Nashville Food Project. In the past six months alone, volunteers have shared over 6,000 hours in our programs, a value of $154,560. This has made huge impact on our work to nourish our neighbors, and we've got some big news. A generous donor is ready to TRIPLE the value of these volunteer hours with a match of up to $154,560 for donations received in the month of October to our A Longer Table capital campaign!

To reach this goal, we’re asking our volunteers to consider setting up a crowdfunding campaign to ask their friends, family, and community to match their volunteer time with financial gifts. This support will help secure our future for years to come, and will honor the incredible impact YOU have made on The Nashville Food Project and our community.

Ready to start your own fundraiser?

It's really easy! Click the button and use the directions below to start your fundraiser.

1. Click "Join Campaign."

2. Click "Create Your Own Team."

3. Create a CrowdRise account

4. Set up your team.

Now it's time to set up your team! Give your team a name, and set your fundraising goal. There will already be photos and language to get you started, but we encourage you personalize it -- tell your loved ones why this campaign matters to YOU, and add a photo of yourself volunteering!

5. Share your fundraiser.

Here's the important part - share your fundraiser! Sharing your fundraiser through social media and email can help you raise THREE TIMES more for the campaign so share, share, share!

Now that your fundraiser is created and shared, you can visit your dashboard to see your fundraising progress and share updates with your friends and family.

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You can also help us meet the match goal by donating today!

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This month of fundraising will culminate in our annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration
on Wednesday, October 24th from 12:00pm - 1:30pm at The Nashville Food Project. We hope you can join us as we celebrate YOU!

Click here to let us know you're coming. 

Volunteer Spotlight: Linda

Bee Queen and Volunteer Extraordinaire are names that you may have heard people use in regards to Linda Bodfish. Linda started volunteering with The Nashville Food Project in 2012 and has been an integral part of TNFP's garden program over the years.

She says it all started six years ago when she had moved to Nashville. Working 70 hours a week was not conducive to building friendships and relationships in a new town so Linda started volunteering in the gardens. She had no garden knowledge aside from planting a few bushes and trees in her yard. Suddenly she became immersed into the community that is The Nashville Food Project. Working alongside Former Garden Director, Christina Bentrup,  Linda developed a passion for gardening and growing food and learned many skills along the way. Linda is the beekeeper of the hives in the TNFP gardens. She helped bring bees into the gardens several years ago when she learned of the impact of bees in garden ecosystems and the decline in pollinator bee populations. She attended a training with Christina and they started two bee hives. Today there are five beehives and Linda has four at home. From these hives we collect honey and a healthy bounty of veggies.

Linda catching a bee swarm.

Linda does much more than keep the bees happy. She works with the little busy bees at Fall Hamilton Elementary School’s Friday Enrichment class called Sharpen the Saw. During this time she teaches first through fourth graders about nutrition, healthy eating, and gardening. When I asked Linda if she had a background in nutrition or agriculture she laughed. She explained that her background was in business and marketing. “I implement the stuff learned in the garden and kitchen to come up with the curriculum...I’m often educating myself as I’m coming up with the curriculum.”

Linda’s experience volunteering at The Nashville Food Project goes through the full cycle. She serves a meal monthly at Vine Hill Towers, an affordable housing community in Wedgewood-Houston. “I’m at the beginning of the food and the end of the food and then take it to little people and show them how important the food cycle is.” Now the students have a small garden that they grow vegetables in. Watching veggies start from a seed to a transplant and growing into food they can eat is life changing for our youngest community members. It helps connect the dots between the lessons they learn and the food they see on the table. It also shows children how interdependent people are with each other and the natural resources around us.

Linda serving a Friday lunch at Vine Hill Towers, right around the corner from the Wedgewood Urban Gardens.

I asked Linda what aspect of volunteering had the biggest impact on her and she replied “Getting to meet new people. I love talking to people!” She explained that volunteering has given her a chance to build relationships. Time spent in the garden gives people an opportunity to dig deeper and learn about each other. Linda explained that by volunteering she met Christina who introduced her to beekeeping, then Julia who lived 4 streets away. She’s watched interns graduate and become professionals and start families. She’s even had two volunteers meet in her garden project and later get married.

Linda brings her passion for the garden, food and people and uses it in order to bring community members together, share knowledge about the food cycle, and inspire the newest generation of community members to understand the world they live in. We are so thankful for Linda and hope that you get a chance to volunteer with her, too.

Strobel Award Recognitions

It is with much joy that we share the news that three TNFP volunteers were recognized during at the 2018 Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards -- two as awardees, and one as a nominee! Cheri Ferrari received the Capacity-building Volunteer award, Media Star Promotions was awarded the Corporate Volunteerism award, and Warren White was a nominee for the Direct Service Volunteer award. The Strobel awards are always a highly competitive process, and we are thrilled for our volunteers to receive this well-deserved recognition!

Learn more about the incredible work of Cheri Ferrari, Media Star Promotions and Warren White below.

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Cheri Ferrari

2018 Capacity-Building Volunteer Award

Cheri Ferrari has touched every aspect of The Nashville Food Project (TNFP) through hours of intentional and comprehensive service. In 2015, she began volunteering as a Meal Prep volunteer, then quickly became a member of our team of committed volunteer cooks. Since then, Cheri has become an integral part of the meals team. She helps staff members prep and cook meals, she delivers the food to some of our 27 partner organizations, she helps facilitate volunteer groups of up to 10 people several times per week, recovers food from grocery stores and farms, and helps with organizing and cleaning our kitchens. Even our most regular volunteers are only able to commit to one of these activities -- Cheri does them all with a smile on her face and through a lens of supporting the staff and overall operations.

Cheri lives and serves by her motto of “whenever I can support anyone on this team, I do it.” She provided a minimum of 1000 hours tending to the operational needs of the TNFP Meal Program staff in 2017 alone. Cheri took it upon herself to learn all of the supporting roles in the TNFP Meals Programs so that she can fill in for staff members who are out sick, taking time off, or need general support.

In 2017, Cheri covered an employee’s delivery route for 6 weeks in order to understand The Nashville Food Project better and to learn every process from receiving food donations to preparing and serving a meal, allowing that staff member to follow her dreams of learning Spanish in an immersion program and to learn how to better serve TNFP. She even volunteered several hours when she was “off the clock” after spending 8 hour days delivering meals to our 27 partner organizations.

We are able to ask Cheri to fill in for staff in times of need without additional training which saves time, money and effort for staff members. Cheri’s time spent leading volunteer groups has enabled our Kitchen Manager to spend Friday’s as a planning period to more effectively plan meals, schedules and build relationships with meal partners. She even came into the office the day after Christmas to prepare for the first meal after the holidays while the office was closed and most employees were out of town. Cheri also took over the role as cook support so that David, a recently hired meals team member, could learn how to prepare the main dish. Then she offered the same experience to Nick, the meals assistant, so that he could learn how to prepare the side dish. Cheri’s training allowed our team to gain knowledge and experience, and ensures coworkers can gracefully cover for each other in the event of  an emergency, illness or unforeseen event.

Finally, Cheri’s work has led to an increase in work satisfaction because TNFP staff knows that there is someone to support them. As oft is the case in non-profit organizations, many responsibilities are assigned to few people which can feel overwhelming. Cheri’s contributions, presence, and fundamental support have led to a peace of mind that all TNFP staff members, community members, and program participants reap the benefit of.

We love you, Cheri!

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Media Star Promotions

2018 Corporate Volunteerism Award

Media Star Promotions began volunteering with the Nashville Food Project in 2015. Since then Media Star employees and clients have served hundreds of hours and implemented countless projects in four of The Nashville Food Project’s urban gardens. In 2017, Media Star Promotions donated 790 volunteer hours towards garden projects. Each month, Media Star employees focus on a new project, always asking TNFP what needs we have so that their service is truly supporting TNFP’s mission. Their 2017 projects included building a tool shed and shelving; building a roof for outdoor produce washing area; setting up tomato stakes and insect netting; creating a small gathering space for community gardeners including building picnic tables and a portable shade tent; and installing electric fencing for urban garden chickens.

Media Star Promotions provides their service through a national corporate service program allowing staff members to volunteer during a regular paid work day. The original purpose of the program was to serve six individual nonprofits within Nashville. However, Media Star Promotions leadership decided that they wanted to focus their attention solely on supporting The Nashville Food Project and providing the resources and labor that would allow TNFP to thrive. Media Star Promotions is so dedicated to TNFP that they influenced the entire national program so that every city focused on only one nonprofit for an entire year.

Media Star Promotions is set apart from other corporate volunteer groups because they are dedicated to seeing a project through from beginning to completion. For example, in May 2017 we approached Media Star Promotions with the project of building a permanent canopy over the vegetable washing station at our New American Market Garden. This wash station is where farmers process their harvest and prepare them for sale, improving both the shelf life of produce and the working conditions for the farmers. Media Star Promotions team members began building the tent, but quickly realized that there were missing parts. Upon recognizing this problem, Loren, the group lead, went to the local hardware store and purchased the missing parts while the remaining team members worked on putting together what they could. This story exemplifies Media Star’s work with TNFP. The team continuously provides comprehensive service seeing a project through and helping TNFP overcome barriers before and during all service projects.

Media Star also spent time creating a community gathering space in one of our gardens. They provided and assembled picnic tables and small portable shade tents. Building community is a part of the TNFP mission statement. This community area provides a space for garden trainings, potlucks, and a multitude of other community events. The space is also the only source of shade and seating in the garden.

Further, Media Star has contributed significantly to soil building and erosion control over multiple projects at several gardens. The soil in our gardens are the foundation of every seed, plant, and creature that is impacted by the garden. In collaboration with Cumberland River Compact, Media Star created and planted a riparian buffer that provided erosion control using native plants. This ensures the health of the soil for future farming seasons, as well as stabilizing the waterway banks, improving water quality in our watershed and providing habitat for wildlife.

We're so grateful for the team at Media Star Promotions!

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Warren White

Nominee for the 2018 Direct Service Volunteer Award

Warren has a passion for serving others driven by his interests in food and people. He combines these two motivators in his service at The Nashville Food Project where he regularly volunteers three times each week for a total of 7.5 hours. He also volunteers at other organizations throughout the week.

Let’s take a walk into a regular week of service with Warren White!

Warren’s Tuesday schedule shows how committed he is to his service TNFP. Warren starts his day by walking 3 miles to TNFP, arriving at 9 am to spend 2 hours in an active shift preparing for meals by chopping fruits and vegetables, cleaning dishes and equipment, and building relationships between himself, TNFP staff, and other volunteers. Warren takes a quick lunch then returns for an afternoon volunteer shift in the kitchen with more meal prep and kitchen support. He finally leaves around 3 pm and walks 3 miles to home.

Wednesday mornings he cooks at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville and spends the afternoon volunteering in TNFP’s kitchen at St. Luke’s Community House. After his shift at St. Luke’s, he returns to First Unitarian Universalist Church where he cooks dinner from 3pm-7pm.

Thursday afternoons Warren returns to TNFP’s Green Hills kitchen for another 2-hour meal prep session, washing and chopping vegetables and preparing fruit salads.

On Saturday mornings, the volunteering continues when Warren bakes cookies and muffins for 6 hours to support the Unitarian Church and residents of Villa Maria Senior Citizen Complex.

On Sundays he sells half of those baked goods at the church where the profits go to scholarships supporting students without the means to attend summer camp and other special church programs. Also on Sunday mornings, Warren spends 1.5 hours making coffee and tea for church goers before the first service at 8am and also in between services.

There are other ways he aids others as well. Warren supports Safe Haven Family Shelter twice a month by cooking and serving meals to 10 families housed there, a Room In the Inn Winter shelter location 12/hrs a month through the winter, and he makes baked goods for the residents of Villa Maria Manor. Warren’s volunteer schedule may appear to be just a list of consistent service opportunities, but when viewed together, it is evident that Warren’s passion is to support people in poverty with a nutritious meal, believing that good food builds people, and people create strong communities.

Thank you, Warren, for all you do to support our community!

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The Heroes Among Us

National Volunteer Week, April 15th - April 21st, is a time to honor the volunteers that work by our side every day. This week we will celebrate each individual who has impacted our mission of bringing people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food, with the goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger in our city.

South Hall Kitchen Volunteer, Rita Pirkl

What does it mean to be a hero? The first thing that comes to mind may be a cape and super powers. You may think of an extraordinary act of selflessness like carrying a person out of a burning building. Its true that this is an act of heroism, however, there are heroes among us that make just as strong of an impact but stay hidden in the bustle of everyday life. At TNFP, those heroes are our volunteers- those people that are the backbone of our organization and the foundation of every program. Their superpowers are weed wrangling, cooking, driving, and simply taking the time to support our community!

In 2017, we were able to grow 59,075 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables in our gardens and create 152,514 meals from scratch in our kitchen to serve community members through over 30 partners. Those impacts could have never been made without the support of 3,758 volunteers who served over 10,375 hours last year.

Volunteers at McGruder Garden

Each volunteer contributes to our mission. Garden volunteers help our produce thrive by maintaining the soil through tilling, broadforking, and weeding. They also ensure that the gardens are in their best condition for community gardeners by helping to maintain tools and garden infrastructure. Volunteers in our kitchens provide the tedious but necessary (and fun!) work of washing, chopping and preparing each element that goes into our meals, as well as cooking and serving meals to feed and empower thousands of community members. We are incredibly grateful  to all of our volunteers from individuals who have spent one afternoon in the gardens to dozens of regular, ongoing volunteers in our kitchens and food recovery. Thank you to the heroes among us!

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If you are interested in being a TNFP hero please sign up to volunteer at thenashvillefoodproject.org/givetime.