The Phone Won’t Stop Ringing
Our admin assistant, Edith, is incredibly talented - calm, efficient, organized to the core. But this month? She can hardly get any work done. The phone won't stop ringing.
Backstory: Hunger in our community is out of control right now. Earlier this year, Feeding America reported that food insecurity in the U.S. is at a decade high.
Federal funding shifts have left more families falling through the cracks. And now it’s summer—school breakfasts and lunches have disappeared for thousands of students.
So our neighbors call. They call us. They call every partner and food bank in the city. Desperate for help.It is exhausting to be poor.
It’s terrifying not to know how you’ll feed your children.
And for those of us working on the front lines of hunger, compassion fatigue is real. There are days when the demand and the need feels unrelenting.
We want to say “yes” to everyone. But too often, we’re saying: “No, we still don’t have space.” “No, your name hasn’t come off the waiting list.” “No, our program is at capacity.”
A year ago, we started keeping a waiting list—knowing full well we might not reach everyone on it. It’s been one of the hardest decisions we’ve made at The Store. But we needed to face the truth and understand the need. And the truth hasn’t been surprising—demand is far beyond what we can serve today.
And today, I checked that waiting list.
It holds the names of 1,883 households.
1,883 families waiting for their turn to shop with dignity.
Some have been waiting since July 2024. Nearly a year.My big-hearted team has asked: “Should we just close the list?” “We may never get to them all.”
But so far, I’ve said no. We must keep it open. Not because we like what it shows us—but because we need to be honest about the scale of what we’re facing.
We need to be able to say to donors, volunteers, and community leaders:Here is the truth. This is what need looks like.The Store, like so many nonprofits, is doing all we can.
Last year, we launched our Doubling Our Difference campaign. It was ambitious—and we didn’t just double the number of households we serve.
We tripled them.
We’ve gone from one checkout lane to three.
Added shopping carts, staff, volunteer shifts.And now, we’re planning Locations 2 and 3.
These next two stores will more than triple our current capacity.
But for now, the phone keeps ringing.
People keep asking how much longer they have to wait.
And for now, we carry that weight—with courage, with hope, and with the belief that doing something is still better than doing nothing.
Thank you to everyone who’s helped us on this journey.
Your support is turning waiting lists into full pantries.
Your belief is what fuels our growth and expansion.
For we know:
Dignity takes space. Love takes time.
And we're building both.
Hunger is at a decade high—and the weight of that reality shows up in our waiting list: 1,883 households long. At The Store, we’re doing everything we can to meet the moment, and planning bold expansion to meet the need. But for now, the calls keep coming—and we carry them with hope.
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Food is vanishing. Waitlists are growing. And hope? It’s harder to find—unless you know where to look.
Across Nashville and beyond, nonprofits are facing unprecedented strain: steep SNAP cuts, overwhelmed food banks, and more families in need than ever before. At The Store, we hear it every day—the calls, the waiting, the heartbreak. But even now, hope is showing up.
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Hunger is rising. But so is our resolve.
In just one year, food insecurity in our region has surged—450,000 Tennesseans are now struggling to eat. And with recent cuts to SNAP benefits, the crisis is only deepening. At The Store, we’re feeling the impact. Our shelves are stretched. Our waitlist just passed 2,000 households. And yet—we’re not giving up.
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