A Great Idea To Consider In Nashville...

It's a wonderful way to provide good food to hungry Homeless and it seems relatively simple to get up and going. We've got the requisite agencies in place to provide the food and there is no shortage of volunteers to do the cooking and serving. About the only real hassle might be exactly where to serve the lunch. The folks in the article below use their local shelter as the serving location but I suspect that's out of the question for a large number of the Nashville Homeless; many won't go anywhere near the Mission because of the perception of violence and theft allegedly rampant at the facility. Whether this is true or not has not yet been "officially" determined but suffice it to say, a significant majority of people I speak with on a daily basis simply will not go to the mission, regardless of how hungry they might be. Technology assists in feeding hungry KIM BRYAN. Newhouse News Service. Washington: Sep 10, 2007. pg. 1

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Volunteers offered homemade lasagna to their guests at the Old Firehouse Shelter Sunday, giving new meaning to the idea of online servers.

Unlike traditional programs to feed the homeless and hungry, The Table is a Web-based organization that requires little organization, said Wanda Cantrell of Southside Baptist, who helped prepare and serve the meal.

Participants visit thetableonline.org to peruse the Web site's calendar and see what times are open. Then they shoot an e-mail to book the date. E-mails are sent to Chris Retan, director of Alethia House, a nonprofit drug rehabilitation agency.

"I like the lack of bureaucracy," Cantrell said of this modern approach to solving an age-old problem. "You pick a date, cook a meal and serve it. It's very pure service."

The Table's concept may be technology-driven. But participants prepare meals they would serve at their own tables and work to create a family atmosphere. Rather than their guests waiting in lines, they get personal service at tables.

Cantrell and crew spent hours Saturday in the church kitchen, browning beef, perfecting sauce and adding just the right amount of spices to 50 pounds of lasagna. The entree simmered for three hours Sunday. The cooks toted coolers of fresh tossed salad and pans of warm garlic bread to the shelter, a trip Cantrell has made a dozen times.

Their effort doesn't go unnoticed by guests such as Jack Gallaher, an Old Firehouse Shelter recipient of Sunday's repast.

"You can't beat the food people from The Table bring us," Gallaher said. "They put a lot of care in the food. But when they serve it to you, you know they care about you, too."

Bryant said he's regained dignity from receiving the goodness of others, such as the folks in groups affiliated with The Table.

"We've had our bumps. They've been lessons in life," Bryant said. "I didn't think that there were this many people like this. Homeless. It changed me. Every day I look to bless someone else. Just like these people bless us."

Retan was among 35 concerned community caregivers who met in November 2005 to devise a plan to feed the hungry on weekends.

"On weekdays, the shelters are able to serve anyone off the street," Retan said. "On weekends, shelters just serve the people staying there."

Homeless people were missing meals or scrounging for scraps in Dumpsters, he said.

The Table continues to flourish efficiently with no director, board or by-laws and no meetings.

The 35 who started the technology-driven homespun hospitality has grown to an e-mail list of 400, Retan said. The core are church-related groups, he said. The list includes other agencies, lots of youth organizations and groups of friends.

"There's always room for one more," Retan said. "That's our motto. And there's room for more volunteers, too. Plenty of room at The Table."