Meal Partnerships, Meals, Community, Poverty & Food Insecurity
Jenny Barker
Fueling Potential: How Summer Meals Support ...

At the Andrew Jackson Clubhouse of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee, kids are spending the summer learning, growing—and thanks to The Nashville Food Project’s made-from-scratch meals—staying nourished, too.

Through the Sweet Peas Summer Eats for Kids program, sponsored by Jackson®, hundreds of healthy meals are delivered each week to support youth during a time when access to regular food can drop off.

This partnership is part of The Nashville Food Project’s Community Meals program, which brings nutritious food directly to organizations already creating safe, supportive spaces for young people.

Now in its sixth year, the collaboration with Jackson is helping serve over 100,000 meals this summer—fueling not just plates, but potential across the city.

Fueling Potential: How Summer Meals Support Youth at the Boys & Girls Club
Community, Gardens, Volunteers
The Nashville Food Project
The Community Agriculture Network Is Live—And ...

The Community Agriculture Network 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.

The Community Agriculture Network Is Live—And Growing!

Red Clover & Carrot Cupcakes

The Nashville Food Project’s Sustainability Team invited the wise Leah Larabell of High Garden Tea to join our staff meeting and lead us in a session of ethical wildcrafting. Naturally, we served snacks too including these Red Clover and Carrot Cupcakes. We’re sharing the recipe (from Elke) with a bit of Leah’s advice too.

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Partner Spotlight: Elmahaba Center

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We spotlight Elmahaba Center, a nonprofit serving the Arabic-speaking community, as well Ashraf Azer, interpreter for the Arabic-speaking gardeners at the Community Farm at Mill Ridge. We are privileged to host seven Egyptian gardeners on the farm this season and have loved learning about a specific type of green used to make Molokhia, a beloved Egyptian soup.

An Update on the Leadership of The Nashville Food Project

As many of you know, we have been on a long journey under difficult circumstances to find a new CEO for The Nashville Food Project. While Tallu Schuyler Quinn will remain in the Founder role, it is crucial to establish strong leadership moving forward.

After intensive planning, interviews and the careful consideration of a Search Committee comprised of board and staff representatives, the Board of Directors has hired C.J. Sentell who will begin as CEO of the Food Project, starting July 6.

Addressing Child Poverty Beyond the Pandemic

Development Manager Johnisha Levi wrote an article for Yes! Media on the American Rescue Plan’s potential to reduce child poverty in the United States. The plan seeks to uplift American families suffering from the economic impacts of COVID-19 with a series of cash transfers and expansion of benefits. While the focus of the bill is specifically COVID-19 relief, it has potential to have lasting impacts on childhood poverty and hunger in our country.

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Kale Yeah!

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A recent donation from Harpeth Moon Farms of 150 pounds of kale really had the meals team busy brainstorming all the ways to prepare and share these greens— stewarding a precious, nutritious gift to its highest best use. We share some uses for kale in this post along with a recipe.

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Partner Spotlight: Darrell Hawks of Friends of Mill Ridge Park

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The Nashville Food Project stewards a portion of Mill Ridge Park as the Community Farm at Mill Ridge, as space that currently hosts about 80 community garden participant families. Our partnership with Friends of Mill Ridge Park (FMRP) has been essential in the continued success of TNFP’s efforts to create infrastructure and land access opportunities for folks to grow their own food in the South East Nashville area. As we celebrate the ways that our work is intertwined with other types of environmental justice work in Nashville, we spoke with FMRP Executive Director, Darrell Hawks.

Week Two: Earth Month Challenge!

For Week 2 of Earth Month Challenge, we’re taking a look at food waste.In the U.S. alone, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of all food produced. Wasted food is the largest contributor of material placed in landfills, which produces approximately 15% of all methane emissions. The water, energy, and labor used to produce wasted food could have been directed for other purposes. Not to mention the nourishment that is wasted that could have gone to feed families in need.

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A Spirit of Service

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"What I love about these programs as we think about the spirit of service is these programs are built on the strengths of those who participate and not their deficits." - our founder Tallu Schuyler Quinn delivering her acceptance speech for the 2020 Alumna Spirit of Service Award at Harpeth Hall School. You can watch the full speech here, where we also offer our gratitude to Harpeth Hall for their recent donations helping us stock our pantry and provide nourishing meals in the community.

Flood Relief: A Few Ways to Help

It’s hard to believe we have faced yet another set of tragic circumstances in Nashville after a brutal year of a tornado, COVID, a bombing and now floods, which recently took the lives of seven Nashvillians. We are doing our small part by sending out meals alongside Metro Social Services, Open Table Nashville and People Loving People. These organizations have all been tirelessly caring for and advocating for our neighbors without housing who have shouldered the brunt of this latest trauma. Additional ways to help partners and friends listed here.

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Offering a Place of Hope and Joy

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The Nashville Food Project garden spaces have long been witness to the wisdom, hope and joy of growers who came to the United States from Southeast Asia. We also have been witness to their added hardships and concerns this past year including anti-Asian violence here. and abroad.

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Goodbye (and Thank You), Winter: A Reflection on Finding Beauty Even in the Toughest Seasons

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Winter holds space for all of us to deal with the hard truths of the year that has just passed. And through the sharp lens of winter’s harsh reality, it gives us something else too: the prospect of new beginnings, and with it, the arrival of spring.