mondays

Every Monday night, several dozen young people gather at the kitchen off Music Row to assemble 200+ meals.  We have looked at all the food that has been donated, and put together the evening’s menu.  About 3:00 in the afternoon, the first volunteers begin to arrive, but most folks come after work, and we scramble from 4:30pm to 6:00pm putting everything together. New folks jump in with the old timers and the mood is jovial while all hands pitch in to fill restaurant to-go boxes with supper to share.  Another team assembles all of the donated clothing and separates by sizes and gender of clothing.

There is no paid staff running this operation, just friends inviting friends to join them to go feed and clothe the homeless.  It started out grassroots, and though it’s grown tremendously, that’s how it still is.  

When the meals are packed and loaded, around 6:30, we take a few minutes to encourage each other in a devotional setting, and sit down to pray together.  Then we pile into cars and head out.

Once downtown, there is already a line of our homeless friends waiting for a meal.  We have a clothing table too, offering fresh t-shirts, underwear, jeans, some toiletries… anything donated that might be helpful. Some of the volunteers take off for nearby apartments, to share there.

Rain, shine, sweat, snow, People Loving Nashville comes to reach out to the poor. And rain, shine, sweat, snow, word gets around, and the homeless come every Monday night. Some are regulars, some are just passing through, but each person is grateful for a meal, and more importantly, to be treated with respect, to be looked in the eye, to be given a hug. These are friends. This is People Loving Nashville.