The Nashville Food Project’s Blog
Ode to Truck #1
Truck #1, our original food delivery truck, has rolled its wheels out of the Woodmont Christian Church parking lot for the last time. Tallu reflects on all the meals Truck #1 carried down the streets of Nashville, taking some time to look back -- and to look ahead.
Reflection by TNFP's Executive Director, Tallu Quinn
Truck #1, the original food delivery truck of The Nashville Food Project and our preceding organization Mobile Loaves and Fishes, has rolled its wheels out of the Woodmont Christian Church parking lot for the last time. The truck was damaged in an accident last month (the door to one of the sides scraped the side of building at one of our partner sites, pulling the whole “box” off center) and after meeting with multiple mechanics it was clear it had been damaged beyond repair. So we pulled it off the roads and received a settlement for the claim.
We offer gratitude for all the meals Truck #1 carried down the streets of Nashville and for the community that’s been formed around this activity of sharing food. The very concept of delivering food as a way of increasing access is a model we have both wrestled with and praised. We have been confounded by the logistics it requires and established a profile in our community for being experts at it over time.
We remember how the doors didn’t lock automatically, how the battery would quickly drain to empty when we left service lights on during mealtime. Countless drivers made countless truck runs to share food in countless communities since 2007, when it took its maiden voyage to Nashville’s former Tent City. As one founding board member wrote to me in an email, “I will forever love the community built around the cornerstone of that truck.”
It’s always good to take some time to reflect on what’s changing around us. A shiny new van has replaced the old truck, and is now fully outfitted to cart hundreds of meals across the city, keeping food at temp, with easy load in and load out. Truck #1, we are grateful for this community food work you set in motion… and as another one of our founding board members reminded me, “Another transition to something better; life is full of those.”
A Day in a Dozen: 12 photos tell the story of one day at TNFP
A variety of volunteer groups meet in the Wedgewood garden each morning to work. This group from RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Students Empowered), a youth program of the Center for Refugees + Immigrants of Tennessee, paused for a lesson on the importance of bees.
Meanwhile back at the kitchen, a morning crew of volunteer cooks prepared trays of sausage strata made from donated and gleaned ingredients that will be delivered to Bethlehem Centers.
By 1 p.m., a volunteer prep team had arrived including Olivia, a young woman visiting Nashville and Woodmont Christian Church on a mission trip from Ohio. She chopped kale harvested from the Wedgewood garden the previous day.
Then at 3 p.m., a two-person team swooped in to prepare hot meals for 170 people. The meals on two separate truck runs would head out by 5 p.m. As part of the process, Judy clipped herbs from the garden behind the kitchen.
Then she prepared squash boats over roasted greens including produce gleaned from Delvin Farms and a donation of meats.
The squash boats would be served with slaw made with donated produce from Granbery farm.
Just before 5 p.m., volunteers arrived to load trucks and deliver the food.
While one truck headed for Rex Courts, an Urban Housing Solutions property, another truck left for the Community Meal at Trinity United Methodist.
Grace, TNFP Outreach Coordinator, plated food with volunteers at Trinity United Methodist...
...as guests began to gather for the meal.
And a parting gift? Produce to-go with recipes!
