Team Food Chain (2009-2017)
"Start a Chain Reaction: Combat Hunger"
In 2009, my mother and I created Team Food Chain (TFC), an award-winning hunger relief 501(c)3 organization. From its inception as a bar mitzvah project, TFC was built upon the idea that each of us possesses the power to act in the service of our communities. In turn, as an organization, we hoped to foster a network of emergent food justice activists and critical non-profit organizations to expand awareness of and funding for hunger relief efforts in Kentuckiana. As a central link in a very large series of chains, we liked to see our work as "rainmaking" - creating the support necessary to ease the burden of precarity typically placed upon grassroots efforts. The imagery herein of connection dates back to our very first meeting as co-founders of TFC, during which I sketched the following logo on a piece of computer paper. Who knew a journey to correct a social injustice could start with a handful of colored pens?
Within nine years, we, as TFC, garnered around $80,000 for various different service-providing hunger relief organizations in the area. In addition, we provided instrumental work towards securing the Commonwealth of Kentucky's first budget appropriation ($1.2 million over a two year course) in its history dedicated to a hunger relief initiative, the Farms to Food Banks Program. In these years of work, I was blessed to have the opportunity to grow in my understanding of food insecurity through engagement with our incredible partners, the Feeding Kentucky, Dare to Care, and New Roots. Most importantly, it was the greatest honor to have the chance to fight alongside my fellow Kentuckians for a future that knows no hunger.
