Today, Starbucks joined Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and community leaders in Nashville to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new campus that will help more neighbors access food and other support. Our $5 million, three-year contribution will support the new campus, including a new Starbucks Community Center, help double Second Harvest's capacity to rescue and distribute food and create more ways for Starbucks partners to get involved.

Second Harvest's new 200,000-square-foot campus will make it easier for neighbors to find the support they need in one place.

When I met with Nancy Keil, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle and West Tennessee and heard more about her vision for the new campus, I immediately saw an opportunity for Starbucks to support work grounded in what the community needs. That conversation gave us a glimpse into what's possible when we listen and work alongside trusted local organizations like Second Harvest. Fighting hunger has been an important part of our work, and I'm proud that together, we can help more people across Middle Tennessee access food and more opportunities to connect.

A new Starbucks Community Center

When it opens, the new Starbucks Community Center will be a welcoming place where Starbucks partners, neighbors, volunteers and local organizations can gather, learn and serve together. The new space - more than three times the size of Second Harvest's current community space - will host meetings, training sessions, volunteer events and community programs.

The center will give local groups more room to connect, share resources and support neighbors across Middle Tennessee, while creating regular opportunities for Starbucks partners to volunteer with Second Harvest.

Expanding FoodShare in Nashville

This partnership builds on something Starbucks partners do every day: make sure food doesn't go to waste when it can help someone in their community. Through FoodShare, partners already prepare unsold food for donation as part of their regular coffeehouse routines.

Next year, our work with Second Harvest will enable us to expand FoodShare in Nashville, connecting surplus food from our local coffeehouses directly with Second Harvest.

Once expanded, FoodShare is expected to provide approximately 406,000 meals each year and keep about 487,000 pounds of food out of waste streams. Our FoodShare program will also continue to provide grant support to help build the capacity needed to collect and distribute these donations.

Together, this work will help more people across Middle Tennessee access the food and support they need. I'm grateful for what we're building with Second Harvest, and for the Starbucks partners who show up every day to make their communities stronger in Nashville and around the country.