We recently connected with Ricky Willis and have shared our conversation below.
Ricky, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Loaves and Fishes started in 1983 when a group of women from Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Clarksville, TN decided to do something to help feed the homeless in the area. They started providing soup on Wednesdays at their church, but it didn’t take them long to realize that the need was much greater than providing food one day a week. So, they reached out to some of the other downtown churches and found a parntership with Madison Street United Methodist Church, Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, and the First Presbyterian Church. Together, they organized what is known today as Loaves and Fishes in Clarksville, TN. In January of 1999, they moved their mission to First Presbyterian Church’s Activities Building where they served daily meals to the homeless. Finally, in March of 2021, their long desired dream to find a place of their own was realized as they opened their newly constructed 15,600 square foot building in the heart of some of the city’s greatest need, at 825 Crossland Avenue in Clarksville. Today, Loaves and Fishes serves a hot nutritious meal to over a hundred people every day, and it serves as a food distribution center for over thirty other non-profit organizations in the Clarksville area that have food ministries. With it’s new location, in addition to providing food for those suffering from food insecurity, it has become a hub of resources for those in need by collaborating with other organizations and ministries that can offer services to the people they serve.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Food insecurity … not having access or the means to obtain nutritional food is a growing crisis. Typically, we think it is only a problem for those who are homeless, but in reality food insecurity is only one crisis away from most people. The sudden loss of income due to a dibilitating illness or an accident, the loss of a job, divorce or death of a spouse, and suddenly one is forced to make painful choices between food and other necessities. Senior citizens on fixed income are making choices between healthy food and prescriptions or utilities. There are many people who have jobs and work hard, but they don’t make enough to cover all their expenses, so they have to make choices between food and gas to get to work, the rent, clothes, etc. Food insecurity is much more widespread than most people think. This is why Loaves and Fishes exists, to provide a safety net for those suffering from poverty and food insecurity. We have no requirements and make no judgements. If you are hungry, we will feed you, It is one necessity they don’t have to worry about, which allows them to focus on other things.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The people we serve represent a broad spectrum of society, but they are all in need. Often, they are labeled as being lazy, inept, dumb, and undeserving. Because of this, they are often treated as being less than human and not worthy of dignity or respect. There were a lot of steriotypes, biases, and prejudices that we had to unlearn in order to truly serve the people we serve daily. There are two types of poverty …. generational poverty and situational poverty. Those who grew up in generational poverty live in a culture where they know no other way to live. They are some of the hardest working people you will meet, but they never seem to be able to rise above their circumstances. In order to survive, their most treasured resource is relationships with those who can help them get through the day. Money is just a means to maintain or gain access to needed relationships. Their decisions often don’t make sense to those of us in the Middle Class, but living in their world, it is the only way to survive. Situational Poverty is when one finds themselves in poverty due to a crisis or trajedy. We often have more sympathy and empathy for those in situational poverty and respond to them differently if we take the time to learn their story, but most don’t take the time to do that and thus judge them the same. We had to unlearn our perceptions about those in poverty in order to have any real impact upon their lives. Both are worhty of dignity and respect and love.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Communicating the mission we were trying to achieve was the means to finding our funding. The mission of feeding hungry people in our community was communicated in every setting we could gain access to.. Telling the stories of how lives are being impacted and how people can participating in meeting the need is how we solicit our ongoing funds. Annual fundraisers and grants are also sources of our income.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.loavesandfishestn.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loavesandfishestn/
- Facebook: LoavesandFishesTN
- Twitter: lnftn
- Youtube: Loaves And Fishes