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Food Hero: Tallu Quinn
"Life often delivers both beauty and chaos together...I stand in awe of the hope and love and connections that emerge when unexpected loss rips through our community" —Tallu Quinn, CEO and leader of The Nashville Food Project.
Tallu Schuyler Quinn is already a food hero to most Nashvillians. Yet, if you go to The Nashville Food Project's (TNFP) website, you'll only find Tallu, CEO, a the end of the staff page (it's in alphabetical order). Just like sharing food, Tallu likes to share the limelight. She throughly believes it takes a village, or as she puts it "it takes a community to impact a community!" And that community includes a staff of 23, countless interns, hundreds of volunteers that cook donated food from scratch every day, urban agriculture projects and community gardens. They have more than 27 meal partners and recover food from grocery stores, farms, restaurants and bakeries. The Nashville Food Project is as ubiquitious in Nashville as food itself.
On March 2, devasting storms and a tornado hit Nashville and the TNFP sprung into action (without power mind you) getting meals delivered to emergency shelters. They recovered 28,000 pounds of meat from The Meat Conference at Gaylord Opryland and set in place a coordinated relief plan. Restaurants and businesses donated time, talent and proceeds. Food went to emergency shelters, and electric company (NES) employees who worked around the clock to restore power. As Tallu does, she enlisted her village.
Then, 10 days later, COVID-19 hit. Out of an abundance of caution, TNFP suspended volunteer activities and soldiered on with a skeleton staff to nourish the community. They shared recipes and bags of groceries. On April 21, 2020 her organization teamed up with the Nashville Soccer Club, Renasant Bank, and Fat Bottom Brewing to create The Community Cupboard: a weekly grocery share. Through this program, they offered weekly grocery shares at no cost to those who have lost jobs and income as a result of COVID-19. The grocery shares included a week’s worth of quality pantry staples, local vegetables, and fresh fruit, as well as local meats, dairy and eggs.
With funding from sponsors and donors, they were able to focus on produce from local farms and producers, keeping dollars in the local economy. Just a few of the regional and local food businesses that participated include Noble Springs Dairy, Biscuit Love, KLD Farm, Bare Bones Butcher, Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese, Just Love, Frothy Monkey, Charpier’s Bakery, and produce from Rally House Farms, HydroHouse Farms, Sweeter Days Farm, and their own Community Farm at Mill Ridge.
Tallu has shown middle Tennessee that The Nashville Food Project is not only about community but is a community. One that brings people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food. Despite the circumstances. Come rain, wind or virus. Kudos Tallu, we are proud to call you our hero. And so happy you call Nashville home.
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