TFBF Foundation Provides for Hungry Tennesseans

For the second year in a row, Tennessee agricultural industry partners joined efforts and donated pork to Cul2vate, a program through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture where the farm employs folks coming through tough situations and needing a second chance. This year more than 2,000 pounds of pork went to the program to help feed those in need.

"This is a reflection of what I think the volunteer spirit of this state is all about," said Joey Lankford, Cul2vate executive director. "I say this without any reservation - this food will touch half of the counties in this state. There will be cooked meals that will go into food baskets, protein with vegetables. It'll be creatively distributed, and those folks will know that this industry cares about them."

This important effort all started with Tosh Farms in Henry County volunteering to donate the pork. They created the idea last year, and this year, the Tennessee Farm Bureau Foundation was proud to provide $3,000 to cover all the processing of the meat.

"My heartbeat has always been to ask the Lord to provide the partners this program needs," said Lankford. "It truly is becoming a statewide army of people who have concern about others that's outside of themselves."

Cul2vate in large part serves as the middleman and gives meat directly to food banks and organizations across the state that feed hungry citizens. One example is Bridge Ministry in Nashville where Angel Kennedy is the master chef.

"This pork is a huge blessing to us because we can use it not only to give to our people directly, but also to use in our hot meal program," said Kennedy. "It'll go out the same week we get it and be an incredible blessing to those who need it."

Another example is Native Song Ministry in Grundy County. Much like Kennedy, Tommy Herman also cooks hot meals for those in need from scratch.

"We cleared freezer space and whatever we get, we're very blessed with," said Herman. "It'll definitely go into the mouths of folks and the bellies of folks that really need it."

While the newly established TFBF Foundation only covered the costs of processing this year, TFBF President Eric Mayberry is confident this will continue to grow to help more and more folks in need.

"The sky is the limit on the partners," said Mayberry. "Whenever you get folks that are trying to feed hungry people, it's amazing how many of those folks are out there. It's just a matter of taking baby steps today, but we're going to take giant steps in the future."

To learn more about the new TFBF Foundation, visit tnfarmbureau.org/foundation.