You Matter Nashville

One Generation Away with Chris and Elaine Whitney

• Jason and Mindy Hoover • Episode 16

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We were thrilled to sit down with Chris and Elaine Whitney, founders of OneGenAway, to learn about their incredible mission to fight hunger throughout Middle Tennessee. Hearing their story of humble beginnings—starting with a single car trunk full of bread—and watching it grow into a multifaceted operation was truly inspiring. They shared how OneGenAway rescues perfectly good food from local grocery stores, restaurants, and caterers, then distributes it freely through mobile food pantries and direct partnerships. Chris and Elaine’s focus on preserving dignity and creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere for anyone in need is just as vital as the groceries themselves. Their story also highlighted how volunteering plays a major role in their success: families, students, churches, and businesses have all stepped up to help sort, bag, and give away thousands of pounds of food each week.

We were especially moved by the compassion they weave into everything they do—like their plan to open a nonprofit center offering free dental and medical care, counseling, and a pay-as-you-can café. No matter where they serve, Chris and Elaine make it a point to foster collaboration, believing that uniting with other organizations amplifies everyone’s impact. Their tale is a vivid reminder that we’re never too small to dream big and that real change happens when we pair practical solutions with genuine care for others. Simply put, if OneGenAway can help feed countless individuals, then each of us has the power to use our own gifts and resources to make a meaningful difference in our own corners of the world.

Key Takeaways

Starting Small, Dreaming Big
They began by picking up surplus bread in a Hyundai Santa Fe—now they’re operating multiple refrigerated trucks, a warehouse, and are expanding beyond Tennessee. No dream is too big if we’re willing to take the first step.

No Barriers, Only Dignity
OneGenAway doesn’t require applications or proof of income. They believe in offering a shame-free experience where people can come, select groceries, and be treated with dignity.

Volunteers are the Heartbeat
Whether it’s high school students earning service hours or community members looking to make a difference, volunteers keep everything running smoothly. Their distributions are kid-friendly and always welcoming to new faces.

Collaboration Over Competition
By partnering with schools, nonprofits, grocers, and caterers, OneGenAway is able to rescue thousands of pounds of food each day. Working together magnifies impact.

Hope is Contagious
Chris and Elaine’s personal experiences of struggle and faith led them to serve others in similar situations. Their story proves that when we help one person, we set off a chain reaction of hope.

Future Vision
They’re developing a nonprofit center with free medical and dental services, counseling, childcare, and a community grocery store—all under one roof, ensuring more resources are easily accessible.

We were inspired by Chris and Elaine’s passion and heart for service. They reminded us that all of us can do our part by volunteering, donating, or simply spreading the word. This episode stands as proof that every act of kindness—no matter how small—helps build a stronger, more compassionate community.

One Generation Away
https://onegenaway.com/

You Matter Nashville YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@YouMatterNashville

The Hoover Team
https://www.thehooverteam.com/

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:00.098)
Hey, Nashvilleians, welcome to the You Matter Nashville podcast, the place where every story we share is a celebration of you, the heartbeat of our community. I'm Jason Hoover, delighted to be one half of your hosting duo. And I'm Mindy Hoover, joining you alongside Jason to bring the stories of inspiring individuals and unsung heroes making a positive impact right here in our hometown. Every episode is about passions, dreams and actions that stitch together the Middle Tennessee community. So if you're looking to get inspired by the good happening around us,

Or if you want to hear from the change makers who believe, just like us, that you matter, then hit that follow button on your favorite podcast platform. And if you are looking to make a move in the middle Tennessee area, and Dan and I are real estate professionals and would be honored to serve you with excellence. Now let's dive into another episode of You Matter Nashville.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:51.608)
Welcome to You Matter Nashville, the show where we celebrate the individuals and organizations that are making a positive impact in our community. I'm Jason Hoover. And I'm Mindy Hoover. And today we're honored to have Chris and Elaine Whitney from One Gen Away with us. One Gen Away is known for its mission to eliminate hunger and strengthen communities by making fresh, nutritious foods accessible to everyone. They do this through mobile food pantries, partnerships, and community-centric approach. Chris and Elaine believe that by working together,

we can build a brighter future that will break down those barriers and where nobody will go hungry. It's a vision deeply rooted in compassion and the idea that we are only one generation away from a better world. Guys, thank you so much for joining us today. It's truly an honor to have you here and for us to learn more about all the incredible work you're doing. Thank you for having us. Yeah, it's a privilege to be on. We're really, really humbled and grateful. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, so to get us started, would you guys mind sharing a bit about what inspired you to create One Gen Away and maybe even some of those first steps and what they look like? Yeah, so we've been in Franklin, Tennessee, 20 and a half years now. So we moved here actually to start a church of all things. And we moved from St. Louis, Missouri. Elaine's from Greenville, Mississippi, where we got married just over 38 years ago. And so we...

We had this vision of planning a church. We did not know a soul, had no financial support, started a church with nothing. We always say that it's not the brightest move, but we were obedient. That's what we can say. We're going to use that. Yeah, no, it's day. There's no patent on that. You're good. You're good. So after we got here, we started the church and I had an insurance business. So was commuting back and forth to St. Louis to kind pay the bills because we didn't have any money.

to fund a church. So we did that and one day, so Elaine went, was a stay at home mom for about 17, 18 years. And when we moved here, she went to work for the first time at Mid Cumberland Community Action Agency. So they're based in all the counties that touch Davidson. So she worked at the Franklin location. And this guy delivered bread once a week. And one day he just said, hey, we could have this truckload of food delivered to a parking lot.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (03:14.284)
And so she said, I'll go home and tell my husband. So I was on a Cinco de Mayo committee with La Casa de Mi Padre in downtown Franklin, the Cinco de Mayo festival in Franklin, where they would give away free clothing and food and things. So I was on that committee. did a distribution with them. A year goes by and we're in, down on first Avenue at, when it used to be a bank there. Not, it's not anymore, but, and I told Elena, said, Hey, we need to call them. We got another Cinco de Mayo coming. We need to call second harvest.

As soon as I said that my phone rings and I have a St. Louis cell phone number and it was second harvest calling us with a free truckload of food. And that kind of launched everything. And so the cool part about that story was, is I got to speak at second harvest and I was telling that very story and a guy raises his hand in the back of the room and he said, I was the driver. No, I had seen him.

years. We were all crying. I mean, I told him I said, this was gosh, this was so many years ago now. And I looked at him. I said, you don't have any idea what you saying that one thing, how many people that's going to feed. And so the backstory to the story is when we were in St. Louis, our middle daughter, who will be 30 or 34 Saturday, Saturday was born with spina bifida.

And so greatest miracle we have, that's a whole nother story. have a lot of stories. She's had 17 surgeries, but while she was born, I was in construction at that time and had hardly any work. I think I made about 16 or $18,000 that year for the year. And when you have a child with that kind of just, had to have insurance. So half our income went to insurance. That wasn't including house payment, you know, all those other things. So we ended up being in a food line for six months.

And we were on government cheese, which by the way is like some of the best cheese in the world. I know where they got it. I'm used to get it, man. It was good stuff. Yeah, it's good stuff. It seriously is. And anyway, but Elaine remembered what the shame how that felt, you so we you kind of quote unquote become successful and you kind of you always say I'll never forget. Right. Yeah, which you kind of do. And so we do the Cinco de Mayo thing and we started remembering those stories and that

Jason & Mindy Hoover (05:33.706)
really motivated us. so the name came from just praying one day and God dropped his face on my heart one generation away, didn't know what to do with it, reserved a domain name and it became what it is today. So it started as a generation away from eliminating racism, denominationalism and poverty in America. So churches crossing racial denomination lines has served their communities unconditionally. And that's evolved over time and now

Our mission statement is hope, honor and dignity shared through food with a vision of wiping hunger off the face of America by teaching people to love one another through service. I love that. That's what made me cry. And it takes one person just to start it. Yeah. Like you said, somebody going, hey, have bread. people in this instance. Yeah. we had this friend of ours called up and said, hey,

can you guys pick up some food from whole foods? And we're like, sure. You know, we didn't. So we went and picked it up and we literally started picking up food from them that was about to go bad, like in three or four days, you know? And so we were in a Hyundai Santa Fe and it was so packed. could literally, you couldn't even get a piece of paper between me and the roof. had boxes all over me, food all over me. And we would just go into low income.

housing projects and just open up the door and let them shop for free here in Franklin, which there are projects and forgotten Franklin trailer parks. You know, know the deal. So we would do that. and then actually we're still doing that today. We rescue food from, mean, all different everywhere, Costco, Publix, Kroger's, GFS, like just all over whole foods still. and then that food actually is on someone's table within 24 hours. And that still goes on today.

Yeah, so it's this weird thing how you create a model out of out of, know, so really when we started, we used to do commodities with mid Cumberland. So they get commodities four times a year, you know, and so where I worked, we would go in there and bag that food, walk it out to people's cars in their parking lot. And I figured, well, it's a government agency, but it's a public parking lot. So I just thought I'd ask this simple question. Hey, is there anything I can pray with you about today? And man, that was just like these people would just go.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (07:53.442)
just open up, you know? And it was like this wonderful invitation to step into the life of another human being. And it's amazing when you just care, even just a smidge enough to look when someone in the eye and ask some question like that. little did I know that that's the model we use today. So true. Before I ever did a distribution in a truck.

And so that that's what's crazy about this whole thing. This whole process was literally. Just something. We kind of fell into, don't know if that makes any sense. know, like it is, as I remember way back in the day, you know, the whole point of it was the prayer for us, right? And food was just the vehicle within as it's evolved, we realized like how much food insecurity is literally all over the world. in our city. It's I mean, it's everywhere.

So then that's kind of how we started with prayer. And so we still ask everyone that's in line, is there anything we can pray with you about? And that's where we collaborate with a lot of other nonprofits, because if there's other needs than just food, then we can help get them to different nonprofits where they have need and they can help fulfill those needs that they have. And the beautiful- We're invited to our distributions to meet with people and serve people that are there, whether it's diapers or-

clothing or blood pressure checks or whatever, know, mean all kinds of things. Okay. So do y'all have like other organizations that also kind of show up there at the distribution sites? Some of them we do. We try to, invite people to come and do that. COVID really kind of screwed everything up and really threw everything in a wrench, but we're back in now and we just had somebody brought, what was it, car seats the other day to a distribution that gave car seats away. It was stuff, you know.

We'll give the Rotary Club, we'll give laundry detergent sheets today, you know, the packages of those. It's just incredible. mean, they get much more than just food. Right. It's just been incredible just with our podcast and talking to all the different organizations of how much everyone mentions each other. And I don't think we've had a single person on here where they also didn't mention at least one or two or three other nonprofits that they...

Jason & Mindy Hoover (10:14.412)
refer their people to. And it's the same names over and over, you know, which is amazing. That's how we get our guests like you guys is everybody's saying, hey, you need to talk to Chris and Elaine over at OneGen. And it's like that all the time. And that's what we love. We love the collaboration of all of them. Yeah. One other crazy thing is we do, I really feel led to tell you all this and because some people think we're nuts, but we actually have a fund in our budget.

that our board has approved that I get to donate to other nonprofits. That's amazing. I've never heard of that before. I remember what it was like to start out. was hard. So our board has given me permission that if I find a need that I want to write a check to that I can write a check. I mean, it's capped in a certain amount every year. But it's very generous. never want to forget. I'm a firm believer you never want to forget where you came from.

Amen. For us, it's a good way to remember. We remember what that was like, you know, before we were the size we are now when it was just like when nobody got paid. Yeah. I nobody got paid for the first few years we did this at all. about six or seven. So, know, it was so you just don't want to forget that. And so I'm really grateful. And people have asked me, well, what do your donors think? And every donor I mentioned it to, they think that's just the coolest thing ever. Yeah. You know, and plus.

Right. There's no way, there's no way, you know, it's, one thing to tell people something, but when you're intentional about doing it, it's really wild. I mean, it's, it's fun to do because they'll look at you like, what are you doing? You know, and I want to be like, well, I'm just, you know, just wanted to, wanted to sow into what you're doing, man. Wanted to be a part of what you're doing. They're nuts like us. Apparently we're in good company. So a question about the start and.

What year was that? How many years ago was that? we, yeah, we became, we started doing it about 2011. We were DBA'd under our church doing business as, because just in case it didn't work, and believe me, there were moments. The great thing is, is thank God that we've never wanted to quit on the same day. So if one wants to quit, the other one's like, no, no, no, we got this. We got this, you know?

Jason & Mindy Hoover (12:31.726)
So that's always happened. Thank God for that. Well, there was there was one day I did. There was one day. It was seriously. Literally. So this is our little marriage moment here is I asked Elaine one day, said, so if you would have known then what you know now, and she went, today's not a good day to ask that question. I mean, like dead straight serious. And I went note taken and went into another room. I was like, not asking that today. And but no, on a serious note, though, we.

When we started, was in 11, it was probably 12. I mean, I remember being in front of a group of pastors and sharing this idea and it was like crickets. And I came home and told Elaine, I must be the dumbest human being on earth. It's probably the worst idea ever. But we were, we actually, we were talking, was Christmas Eve, I think it was. It was, no, was Christmas, the day after Christmas. Day after Christmas, that's what it was. Yeah. And I said, Hey, I don't think this one gen thing's going to work. I mean, seriously, we're having this conversation and,

And we're just sitting there and all of a sudden my cell phone rings just out of the blue. like at nine o'clock on the day after Christmas that morning. And this guy's on the phone. goes, Hey man, I saw you. There was an article in the Williamson Herald about us, about our two volunteer drivers. One was a black guy. One was a white guy. One got the white guys from Mississippi and about their story, working, serving together. And he said, I tried to give to this international organization, but they never answered. So I wanted to have coffee with you and see if we could, we might want to donate to you. And I'm like, okay.

I said, sure, when do you want to meet? And he goes, how about like 10 minutes? go, how about 20? I can take a shower. And we met, we met at the Starbucks on five points in downtown Franklin. Back in the day. And we met for like two hours and this guy goes, I think my wife and I want to donate. And he opens an open face checkbook and you know, his Starbucks table is like the size of a stamp. know what I mean? Yeah. And he starts to write a number. So I'm just doing this because I hate and he folds up a check and sticks it in our pocket. We go home. I opened that check. It was for 30.

$1,000 away and we're like, well guess we're not quitting now And if it wasn't for that guy, we probably wouldn't be on this podcast about obedience, right? That's we would think I'm here. We wouldn't have had at that point. That's nasty level rises about 100, you know, I mean you get what I'm saying. I think 100 absolutely Coolest beginning stories Of a complete stranger we have no idea who they are just reading an article in a paper

Jason & Mindy Hoover (14:59.382)
and meeting with them for two hours that they were motivated to write a check that size. so that's why we always talk about that no, we get a lot of, we've been humbled, we get a lot of accolades, a lot of people are very kind about what they say, but this is God's baby and it's his, he's made it happen. We just happen to be willing vessels that have made it happen.

We can't take credit for what's being done. The volunteers, our team, they would makes this happen every day. And then that guy with that check was a huge catalyst for where we are now. It's just people being obedient again. Yeah. Do you think that God sometimes pushes us and lets us get to the very end to draw us back just to show you that? Always. I'm going to tell you all what. Yeah, no, mean, I

So we moved here and planted that church, you know, and we did that. But I tell people, said, I believe God will let you believe whatever you want to believe to get you where he wants to get you to do with you what he wants to do with you. Just think about that for a minute. know, so we came here to plant a church. The only thing we knew about food was we liked to eat it. There was never this idea of a food ministry. was never, I didn't work in a grocery store or, you know, nothing like that. And so,

But he just needed to get us here, right? And if it was to start a church, he's like, fine, go start a church, I don't care. That's not what you're gonna do ultimately, but I just need you to go there. And once we got here, then everything else unfolded, right? And there were some, man, there were some hard moments and believe me, there's, whew, there's a million. long road. It's been a long road. So when we signed, when we became our own 501C3 in June of 13,

In November of 2013, we signed our first lease on a small warehouse behind the factory. It's a little 2000 square feet. It was only like a 12 foot ceiling. So it didn't hold much food, was our warehouse, $2,000 a month, right? 2000 a month. was November the 1st, November the 1st, December 31st of 2013. I get diagnosed with stage three throat cancer, tongue, and lymph node cancer.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (17:17.965)
And I speak, I talk for a living, I pastor a church, I run a nonprofit, you know what Now. I mean, it's like that we just, yeah. And so, um, 14 was our first full year in existence and our budget was $25,000 and our rent was 2000 a month. So that tells you how much we got paid. And we never missed a payment. We we did half the mobile pantries we did the year before. And, uh,

So we ended that year at about a million dollars in food and a $25,000 cash budget. And 23, we closed at a $2 million budget and 26 million in food work. So we went from a million dollar profit to 28 million in 10 years. That's phenomenal. And didn't kill each other, which was really amazing. That's even better. Or anyone else. either. I don't think. Even better. Yeah.

Now the type of people that you serve and a lot of people think, you're probably just helping like the section eight people. You're just helping the people who are, or are completely impoverished. You know, there's a stereotype that comes with that. sorry, I'm trying to cry, but there's a whole other set of people that are barely making payments on their home and they're one paycheck away from losing everything and have to go stand in those lines because they know that.

They can barely make it here in Franklin or Brentwood and they don't have that extra, you know, money to feed their kids. I know in the college town that I went to, you know, I paid for my own college education. You know, I had to pay for everything on my own. I was working a full time job, but I still didn't have enough money and I would go without food. Like I can't imagine, you know, having something like this in my college town.

because I know I wasn't the only one that was going without food because they were paying for their tuition first. there's just so many different scenarios. I know when we first moved here, I mean, there was a time fresh out of college and I had a two year old having to get on food stamps to make it here, living in an apartment and barely.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (19:34.126)
making it. And I'm like, when we say we came to Franklin with humble beginnings, like it really, really was, we're like, we want to raise our kids there, we want to be there. but it had to be a very humble moment to come and do that when we worked our way out of it. But if it wasn't for that assistance, we couldn't have, we couldn't have a better family. And even then there was not anything like this that was supplementing because we all know that's not enough.

Want your get that a hundred dollars. $200. Source, right? Yeah. We talk about that with our team and with our volunteers, you know, that we're not someone source. We are a source and we want to do the best we can to, to, you know, exercise that source. But you know, what's, what's really cool, uh, Jason Mindy is that we didn't realize how unique what we do is.

until we got into this and auditors and different people are like, we've never heard of anything like this. What you do is so different, you know, and it's like, how you look at it. Well, yeah, once you know, then, know, God just keeps showing up more and more just in case you thought it was you, guess what? No, it wasn't. you're not that smart. You know, you're right. I'm not. know what? One thing, going back to the faces of how our line has just changed, right? Because, you know, sometimes it's the working poor. Sometimes it's the, you know, people who are on the street.

But, you know, we always have said, never judge a person by their car. Like, don't ever judge that because the bottom line is you don't know what their stories, they could be living in that car. And that's what a lot of things we've come across is what's happened is people would say, you know, hey, I lost my job and now I'm living in this car. And it was just, I mean, it's heart wrenching to have that. But you're right. We're one, some people are one paycheck away from being in the food lines.

You she was saying, talking about when we first started out in the real world after college. And I remember those times it was so aggravating. It's so depressing and it just beats you down and think, and I guess that's where, you know, the devil kind of comes in and plays mind tricks on you thinking, well, you're not good enough. All your friends are doing fine. Why? I remember, I don't know if you remember this. I remember one time we were in Walmart during this time period.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (21:55.362)
And, we had both gone to college. Our parents had not gone to college. And so we were kind of like the first ones of our family to do so. And so it was all new territory. Well, getting out and having that debt and having to, you know, get out there in the working world yourself, it was tough, but we made it. But I remember this time at Walmart that we were shopping and I went to get some soap, some

just regular bath bar soap, right? I remember this. Huh? I remember that. remember this? And it was such a pivotal moment in our life. But I remember I grabbed what I wanted, which was what I was used to. And I remember we were so, so broke that I looked at the other one that was on sale. was 32 cents cheaper. And you know, nowadays we don't even think about that. 32 cents is okay.

But then it was such a major difference. And that's how broke we were. Counting pennies. And I remember, still remember on that shopping cart looking at the soap going, never again, never again. We're getting out of this. And that's why, you like, like, like we're talking about, you can't judge. You don't know. Cause other people didn't know that about us at the time. Yeah. Nobody knew. And you know, we can't judge. And I love that about your,

your organization is that I know from reading about it, you don't require anything from you just show up. Right. Do know why? No questions asked. Yeah. No qualifying questions at all. The reason is because when I was in that food line, they ask all these questions and it was so demeaning and I so much shame that when we started this, told Chris, I'm like, we're not asking any questions because I don't want

anybody to feel the way that I felt that day that, you know, those days that you're in the line, you know, it was just, it was so shameful. And, know, it was just, it was sad really, cause now, you know, looking back on it, you're like, gosh, I mean, why, you know, why would they do something like that instead of just trying to reach out and help you, you know, that you need help. Yeah. Yeah. It was just really hard. And I thought we're never, we're not doing that. So a board member, one of our board members put it this way and it, it, feel like you need to take a shower after you say this. She said, it's like, we ask people to prove.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (24:19.682)
They're sufficiently deficient to need help. That's heavy. That's heavy. It's very heavy. It's like we strip them of humanity. Right. You're no longer human. I need you to prove to me how bad you are, how bad off you are. That's a bad place. I mean, that's a terrible place to put somebody in. They already feel bad enough. Like you and I, we've lived that, right? For sure.

That's why we want to bring hope, and dignity because they're stripped of that. So many people are, and it's like, that's what we want to bring. And we do a grocery cart full of food for free, and it's like everything is from dairy to canned goods to soups to fresh produce, lots of fresh produce, fruits and vegetables. And it's like literally a grocery store. So it's like two weeks worth of groceries they'll get for free.

Um, we're so, I mean, we're just very humble to be able to even think about providing that. God's been so faithful to us. Yeah. And I, and I completely get, no, we're talking about not asking the questions and everything. When we first started at love the dress, giving my prom dresses, uh, we always asked for a $10, $20 donation. And, um, you know, of course, if you couldn't afford it, you'd get one for free. And a lot of the organizations out there, the girls had to.

bring in that they were either on food stamps or they had to bring in their own free reduced lunch at school in order to get a dress. And, you know, I sat down with some of the people we were working with and I'm like, I don't want to do that. You know, I'm like, I know you guys are worried that people are taking advantage, but I don't want these girls to have to prove how poor they are. If a girl is coming to, you know, a place to get a donation or to get a charitable

dress, you know, for prom, I think that's proof enough that they need help. Cause most girls want the most court, know, the newest thing or whatever going to the mall or going to the dress shops in Nashville. So for them just to be humble enough to show up to get help. You know, I was like, our job is just to love on them. I love what you guys do. That's incredible. Talk about bringing dignity and and hope to people, those girls. That's amazing. And I'm sure, you know, like with

Jason & Mindy Hoover (26:36.366)
love the dress and the way, you know, y'all don't ask questions. There may be a very small few that just show up, you know, and kind of take advantage of it, but so what? I mean, you're blessing so many other people for it. It doesn't even matter. Yeah. I always say that's between them and God, right? That's right. Between us, We're supposed to do what's between what they do with, you know, they're going to do that. They have to deal with that, not us. That's right. It's not on my salvation.

No, really. Well, and you find out, I tell people all the time, said, the face of hunger is not what you think it is. As you mentioned before, Mindy, right? Which I thought was such a powerful thing for you to say. And let me say this, man, your all's vulnerability is so commendable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being real. And no wonder people love your show because you guys are just stinking real. And I love that. But it's just not what you think it is. And

Most hunger is seasonal. so we talk about, we just want to walk this season with you. And then some people get to be on the other side. I remember a lady at Franklin Elementary School, think it was. Which one was it? but she's bopping with a grocery cart, this big smile on her face. And she looks at me, she goes, you don't know me. She goes, but I used to have to be in this line and now I don't.

And I was like, my gosh, you're like, wow. So she got to serve, you know, and we actually have people that receive that park their car, get out and help us bag it and serve it and give it away and then get back in their car and receive it. And I'm like, that to me is the first step out of the cycle. Now you're valuable, right? I have something to give someone else. Yes. Does it make sense? You just want to go hug them.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. You're just exactly. I have a ton of young ladies who are college age now because we're having our 15th year this year where they have come back after college or as an adult to help volunteer. And they'll let me know. They're like, do you remember me? I to get my dress and now I'm here to help. And I'm like, I love it. I'm like, thank you.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (28:54.958)
That's great. love that. great. Or when they donate their dress back when they have nothing. Wow. And then they bring their dress back the next year to donate to the middle. Wow. That's powerful. Yeah. That's. Yeah. Yeah. That really is. The world's really better than what we know it is. There's a lot of really great people out there and it's, I don't know. What is it about the fact that if someone's in need, we think they're a lesser human. What, what, why? That's true. You want to know what most people say to us?

Is it okay if I give some of this to my neighbor? Because they couldn't get here. Is it okay if I do? And I'm like, yes. Please do. mean, that's, that's people talk about this. Maybe Jason, as you said, maybe that 1 % if it's even that high, they take advantage of us. Most of them are like, how do I give some of it away? Right, right. You've got this need, don't give it away. know what mean? But I'm like, man, whatever, it's your food.

You know, if you want to share it, man, go for it. That's awesome. So you, guys have, have a lot of volunteers at your events, right? Can you share a little bit about that? Do you have like returning volunteers? Do you have like organizations? How does that work? So we have about almost 20, 20 volunteers, probably then almost now think we do 38 Saturdays in middle Tennessee, just here. Yeah. wow. And, and we have about 20 volunteers and almost make every one of those.

So really our local distributions, also have a warehouse in Alabama, North Florida. So we're expanding around the country. I want to know more about in a minute. Yeah. Yeah. The mission is crazy. But anyway, so they run a distribution. Our team really doesn't run one at all. They literally just do everything. I mean, it takes about a good 80 to 100 to have a really successful distribution. So we have like a...

a list of people that, you know, have signed up on the email and we just send an email the week where we're going to be and they just show up. We don't ask them to sign up because you know, when you sign up and you don't show up, they're like, Oh, I'm embarrassed. They won't come back. Like, no, if you can make it, just make it. So they'll come. And I mean, it's, it's, normally have just the perfect amount of volunteers. It guy just really works it out that way. Every, every Saturday. You know, it used to be where, especially since, you know, I love you matter Nashville. It's like,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (31:20.131)
We joke with the Wilco folks, you all know what I mean by Wilco. And if you're from Wilco, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And I'm talking to you right now. So I always tell my distributors, said, hey, there's this really cool thing we learned is that when you leave the Williamson County border, your tires don't lock up. Your car will continue to roll. So when we're doing one at Maplewood High School, which is an amazing experience, like we just had 300 cars last Saturday at Maplewood High School, turned cars away. I mean, which is gut wrenching.

You know, it's amazing that you can get to Maplewood High School on Saturday morning as fast as you can cross Franklin. Yeah, that's right. so there is another world besides Wilco out there. our events are kid friendly, so you can bring your kids any age. doesn't matter. The reason is, though, why saying that is because when we're in Franklin location, which is great, we love being here in Franklin, too, but we have like sometimes 200, 300 volunteers.

then when we go to Maplewood, like he was talking about, we might have like 50, you know what saying? So it's like, if somebody would help us, you know, different areas, because we're all over, you middle Tennessee. But you asked Jason about, yeah, so we have high school kids get their hours with us. There's other groups that join with us. Companies join with us. And really just individuals. They bring their families and yeah. And you all might be able to appreciate this. I remember, you know, when we started.

and we opened up a Facebook page, you we had 25 followers. I'm like, oh my God, how cool is that? And now we have, you know, thousands and thousands of followers. It's like crazy, you know, over 10,000 followers, I think, or something, which is nuts. I'm like, where do these people come from? That's awesome. And so, you know, we are a volunteer led organization. I think we have 14 employees and we moved 10 million pounds of food with 14 employees. So it's like, you better have some volunteers. Yeah. And so we...

I don't know. just, you know, it's a mission because yeah. So the mission, when I dream this, this is why people pray for Elaine. Many reasons, but I'm probably the main reason is to feed a million people on a Saturday morning and a million people being prayed with face to face by the local church. So that's, that's the dream. And so we, it's our, it's our 10. That's our 10. We just.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (33:35.218)
did a strategic plan and that's our 10 year BHAG, our big hairy audacious goal is to feed a million people 10 years from now on a Saturday morning. And, hairy audacious goal. BHAG. Yeah. So that, you know, and, I really, so there was a while there where I didn't know if I'd see it in my lifetime, but I really believe we're going to get to see that. I hope so.

Well, I believe it'll be pretty cool. You know, so we are replicating around the country. Yep. So we do disaster relief now. So we'll be in, you know, Northeast Tennessee and probably I Asheville, North Carolina we've done, you know, we do. Well, we've sent when the, when the hurricane happened, we sent 60 semis there full of supplies and food. And, and we had this friend who had turned a semi trailer into a kitchen.

So we would provide the food, they would cook it, helicopter it up to the mountains and feed the people who were stranded. It was so cool. I'm so thankful just to be a small part of that. That is very cool. So we have lot of fun stories, man. There's just a lot of crazy stuff happening. We don't have enough time for all of that. No, it's just, we've been, volunteers are a huge part of who we are and the organizations, the companies, you know, we run.

you know, several 26 foot refrigerator trucks every day of week, like Elaine said, six days a week rescuing food and putting it on people's tables. And we couldn't do it without the support of this community and the people at large. And I want to hear about that because I'm a huge like, recycler, reduce reuse, all of that. And so I think a huge problem in our nation is how much food waste we have. really would love to hear more about

I mean, you can even drop names like what companies are saying, let's, let's try to fix this. Let's donate this food. Yeah. So Whole Foods, Kroger, Trader Joe's, Costco, Sam's Walmart. mean, it's it's Aldi, Publix, Publix, much all of them. We also do caters too. So when caters have Suzette's catering, know, she'll call us when she has more. Yeah. Menu maker. I mean, we rescue.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (35:56.514)
The music city center, we rescued Geodes field. rescue, mean, you name it, man. We try to name. So we say this all the time and is that, hunger is, is not a supply and demand issue. is a logistics issue. So rescuing food is you've got basically between a four and five hour window every day to get it. That's it.

You think about how many grocery stores there are. So there's not enough of us or second harvest. There's just not enough of either one of us to rescue every store in a four to five hour window. Imagine that. Because we could get, at a Costco, we could get two to three thousand pounds in one morning. I mean, just prepared meals. I mean, we're talking really great stuff. mean, bananas that are still green. Just unbelievable things that you can't even imagine. So we...

It's really humbling to see, but I like you, Mindy. So there's two segments of our population, the elderly and our children. We need to feed them. We can argue about the middle, but man, by golly, while we argue about the middle, I'm going to feed the rest of them. And I'm going to feed the middle too, but don't tell anybody. So they probably just found out right now. But no kid should go to school hungry.

No kids should spend a weekend without a No, that shouldn't happen. And so the more access we can get to rescuing food, the better. so that, that for us is, we're good at that. team, call our, our, drivers, we call them first responders. So they are, they are the unsung heroes that nobody sees and nobody gets to know. mean, the retirement towers we go to in Nashville and the, and the disabled towers and the elderly.

where they get to see a buffet spread in their room with all this fresh produce and meat stuff. They get to shop for free, whatever they want. It's so fun. And I mean, when you do that once in a truck, you're just like, wow. And it's work, man. It's hard work. But boy, mean, obviously we couldn't do it without our team. Our team is amazing. And we just hired our 15th employee. Yeah. So it's a...

Jason & Mindy Hoover (38:18.05)
Yeah, this year, you know, 25, I think our budget's 3 million cash, but we're anticipating doing like $33 million worth of food off that. so that's amazing. Yeah. So we stretch a dollar really far, you know, 96 cents on a dollar goes to what we do. We try to run really lean. And, you know, it's but but this the amount of food we throw away is obnoxious and it's ridiculous. And we've got to get our heads around this. And we live in a country that

hunger shouldn't be an issue. there's we're too wealthy of a country to have these kids going to school. And like you said, you know, you can argue over things, but at the end of the day, a kid does not need to go to school hungry or be, you know, on the weekends, hungry because that affects his whole life because it affects him at that school, it affects him with the studies development. Oh, it is a, it's a generational, you know,

curse of some sort that we can easily and I say easily, but you know, we have the ability to fix that like and that's what you guys are doing and yeah, so I'm with you. I'm with you on your your BHAG. believe you can make that happen. Now with the school systems, are you I mean, I know that Williamson County and Franklin and a lot of the other school districts around Middle Tennessee have really done a great job to make sure that all these kids

can get a breakfast, that they can get a lunch. But do you guys work with them for the kids that you know are not getting that extra? Yes. yeah. We work with all the social workers. close relationship with the social workers who know the families who are hungry. So, you know, it's embarrassing obviously for the kids. can't, we have an 18 to 20 pound box that the social workers would pick up.

or even sometimes they're in their schools and they'll just take them to the families that they know that's in need so they can eat over the weekend. And it's like not just a weekend, it's probably maybe five days worth of food. We have this new program, started what's not new anymore, it's a little over a year, but it's called the Doorstep Pantry. we partnered with DoorDash, they had sent out a mass email and we responded. And so what we do is we'll deliver on Fridays in Williamson County. They can go on our doorsteppantry.com and sign up.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (40:35.806)
And within a 10 mile radius of our warehouse in Cool Springs, we deliver a box of food for free. So your shut ins can actually be able to get through. Transportation insecure. don't have cars. So we those boxes for the schools and for juvenile justice. work with them. So somebody gets handed some kids they weren't expecting. Police department. Police department. We had a call the other day. So Thanksgiving morning we were at the warehouse grabbing food for people.

in domestic violence situations that we were able to deliver food to them on Thanksgiving morning. And a turkey. That's awesome. And so, you know, we get to do a lot of fun stuff. And I mean, it is crazy how blessed and how much fun we get to have. But, you know, the biggest thing that so I'll tell you a crazy story is when COVID hit, I get a call from Williamson County Schools. What time we were doing first. Yes, we were were we were doing emergency food boxes, which were in banana boxes, you know, and they

We were doing about 40 a week. So get your head around this one's going to blow your mind. 40 boxes a week. COVID hits, school's shut down, right? Yeah. So they call us and said, hey, we want to meet. They come into our warehouse and they said, we want you to feed the school district. OK. So we went, we said, and the joke with me is always that I never, I always say yes.

my first response. My team sitting there with me. I we were like, the same way. We're not going to. just said, sure. What does that look like? And so we literally went from 40 to 600 boxes a week a week and did it for the whole, for like four months. grew over 200%. So we had a distribution down in Spring Hill area. We won at Fairview. We had these different points and we were swapping trucks with the schools, the school district. They were using our trucks. We were using their trucks and we all this food. That's beautiful.

And we had two families that came in and boxed twice a week. They were already doing it. They were already doing it. They've been around us. And none of us got COVID at that time. None of us. That's amazing. That was miraculous. It was a miracle. we would be dishonoring this community if we did not engage our schools. And it's not about one gen. It's not about credit. It's about making sure no kid goes hungry.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (42:48.524)
And I remember that and I remember getting the emails. They would say, okay, on this day we're having, they call them like lunch pickups or something like that. the parents would get in line and they'd be able to have pretty much breakfast and lunch. Like they normally would if they were going to school. was definitely a competing program during the summer. Yeah. Yeah. So it's true. It's a lot of cool. mean, there's, there's so many organizations and things that go on out there that are great. It's just.

We need more of us and we need to expand more and get more food. That's really what it's all about. How do we go rescue more food? How can we get it in the right hands of the right people? I like how you say rescue the food. like that. Yeah. It's a really funny. really causes. People are like, what do you do? It causes conversation. I can tell you that much. They're like, what the But it really is true, right? I mean, we are rescuing it and giving it to other people. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. Now outside of food, do you guys have like...

other educational opportunities or anything for the families or is that something that you guys redirect? We redirect pretty much everything. We get a lot of really cool stuff though. You'd be amazed at stuff we get. We take in and we, cause we have other people we can give it through and to other, you know, organizations again and different nonprofits. And so sometimes we'll get different things and we'll, we'll donate that for their, you know, the manger program or whatever that they're doing, you know, so they can give those out. And it's, it's just, I mean, it works out, we'll get a truckload of something. We're like,

you know, okay, God, what are we going to do? And somebody needed exactly that, you know, so it all works out. the tornadoes hit Clarksville last year, we worked with the Apex a lot up in Clarksville. And so we, immediately went up with food, but we, got this truckload. We got 70 record players. Really? And so they were able to get them out to high school kids in Clarksville that their houses were destroyed by a tornado. Cause it's hard for people to have the older kids to have toys, right?

crazy cool stuff we get. Y'all, get some really cool stuff that's fun to give away to people. But we try to redirect. We kind of tell people we're a one-trip pony, but we ride that horse pretty well. And honestly, I'm just, once again, so grateful for this opportunity that you would even have us on your podcast. It really means a lot to us. Thank you. Thank But there's one message I want to get across is, hey, nonprofits, let's figure out how to play together. Yes.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (45:09.506)
For sure. A rising tide raises all ships and there's more than enough money out there for all of us, right? If I believe if we would work together, people would even give more because they realize their dollars being stretched. And I know we're probably running against time, but I do want to share one more, one more last idea that we're working on right now that has been publicized now and it's getting closer fruition. So I had this idea of

Elaine told me, you know, we can't start another nonprofit. We started in church and she says you cannot. Church with nothing. One gen with nothing. I'm like, that's it. No more nonprofits. So I have this idea, you know, you all have, I'm sure you got many of these stories the same way, right? You know, so we're getting ready for church. I said, Hey, I got this idea. And I'm like, she's going to say no, but I just got to get it off my chest. You know, I said, I think about a build a nonprofit center that would give one gen a lifetime home.

and have multiple services in one location so people could come to one place and get all their needs met. Medical, dental, and all this. And Elaine looks at me and she goes, I think that's God. And I went, I didn't even think, Jason, you'll appreciate it. I didn't even think, I just went, no! That means I have to do it. Yeah, I know this is exactly, you said, no, I couldn't do this. She said, well, this is different. I'm like.

The women's prerogative right there. You know, it's like, yeah, this is a man. mean, this happened before COVID, but now it's like all coming to fruition. And, you know, we've got some land that, we're building on on Downs Boulevard. It's a perfect location and we're going to have free dental, free medical. We'll have counseling in there. We're going to have the community childcare will be in there. We're going to have its own pay as you can coffee shop.

And we're going to have a free grocery store so they can just come in and get all their needs met in one spot. It's going to be beautiful. They can hang out for the day. And if they can't afford the coffee or a sandwich, they can have it at the cafe. And so it's going to be really cool. We're excited about that. That is really amazing. do. I love that. And I completely understand, Chris, as you Mindy is probably tired of all of my ideas too, because we're idea people and we are also let's take it and run with it people. And sometimes we have to go, okay.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (47:24.974)
take a breath, sink through this. We need to take on anything else. like, might be dangerous that we've met via. I got a feeling there's a breakfast, lunch or dinner coming in our future. we're going to be like, I would love that. are we going to do? The best compliments a friend gave. He's like, the last time I was at your house, you were like, I'm thinking of doing this, this and this. And we came back and it's done. Like we would have still been in the planning stages. It's just,

We're like, you why wait? do it now. Let's get We're very grateful for you guys to have us on here. Honestly, it's been such a joy and a pleasure for that. Well, thank you. it's a blessing that you guys are here and blessing our community, but it's a blessing that you are giving back so much and that you are being disciplined in what God's leading you to do.

And because without that, guess how many kids would still be hungry and been going hungry over the years. So your heart definitely shines through and can I ask you a question? I mean, we'd love to ask this question. And how can we serve you? What can we do for y'all? mean, mean, I love, I didn't know you were the one that did the prom dresses. My God, were like my hero already. I get to meet the people that start things. I'm like, my God, why didn't I do that? I feel like.

Do you ever? All right. You can't do everything. You can't. But have you ever felt like, know, God, we should be doing something when somebody does something really cool and you didn't think of it and you feel like, yeah. And you're like, my God, man, I'm already doing this. What am I thinking? You know, I can't I'm not supposed to do everything. And anyway, people have to do things. But seriously, what can we do to what can we do to serve you guys? What what do you guys need? What? I don't know. Hopefully other people ask this question. But I mean that sincerely because

That is our heart is to serve. how do we, how can we serve you all? other people give us a list of other people that we could have the opportunity to reach out to that we can shine a light on their ministry, their nonprofit and what they're doing to help. So many that we can give you, will email that to you. I think that's the biggest blessing for us is, I mean, we're doing, we're kind of.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (49:50.242)
doing our love project. kind of doing what we- our passion. Yeah, it's what we love to do. And we love to help, but we've also been the one that needed the help. I know. Agreed. And this may be one of those dinner conversations, so we put the idea, brains, the four of us together. This is our passion project. We have a full-time career in real estate, but we-

started this podcast, started this whole thing. It literally just came out of thin air. Yeah. Literally just like, Hey, let's do this. Right. I mean, we're actually in Miami when everything just happened. and couldn't wait to get home to start working on it. But, I would say, you know, cause we were literally just talking before this about, want to sit down and kind of map out what does the rest of the year look like for you matter Nashville? Cause it's not just a podcast.

UMAT in Nashville is really a way to connect a lot of these organizations, also share with other people. There are places to go to get assistance in a multitude of things. And so one of the things that we're even looking at doing is kind of do own location. Yeah, that's awesome.

kind of videos and sharing the stories. like, like with you guys doing the, parking lot. That'd be great to warehouse where you are. What a great idea. Yeah. That's wonderful. would say, you know, maybe, you know, if you wouldn't mind us coming and do that, you know, get that. love it. Anytime. Absolutely. And we'll give you a list of people too, cause we have a lot of friends. I love it. Perfect. We appreciate you guys.

And same here. Thank you so much for just loving on people. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. It's our honor. I mean, what a privilege. mean, we really do look at it like why man that God would choose us is like incredible. And the people that like you, the people that serve with us, I mean, it's just, gosh, it's just so humbling, It's like, you know, you have a dream and a vision and it's like,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (52:03.118)
Not all of them have worked. Trust me. mean, we're, giving you a good story, but there's others that have failed miserably, you know? Yeah. Um, know all about it. But if you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough. I mean, that's it's dearly. And so I, I, um, I don't know. It's just been, it's just really humbling and a blast. And I'm really, really grateful for y'all. What a, what a great heart you have. I'm serious about offline. need to get together.

Before we wrap up for our listeners, how could they get involved in help? What's the best way to do that? Onegenaway.com. Go there and click join the movement, get on our newsletter. All of our mobile pantry dates are on there. On the calendar. On the calendar, you can sign up to volunteer in the warehouse on there. can just show up at a distribution. Like Elaine said, you don't need to register. just, I know that's crazy, but it just works.

Donate there. Everything's on that site. So, and if you email info, it'll get to me. So, or me or Elaine, whoever you want it, whoever you want to, Annette handles books, lot of my schedule and stuff like that. So she, she handles a lot of that. So, Annette or Elaine or Chris at one Jenna way.com, will get you where you want to go. And also to almost forgot, you also do a speaking and.

consulting as well? it's kind of a crazy thing. Yeah, I'm just kind of really starting to launch out in that. I mean, I've spoke for a lot. mean, pastor to church and spoke at churches all over the place. But it just this phase of our ministry in my life, I feel like I've learned a lot over the last several years. I mean, I've started two nonprofits and, you know, grown there both. And anyway, so anybody that's interested in colleges, high schools, whatever, I mean, I love to talk, but

There's a page, chriswittneyspeaks.com, or you can just email me through OneGen. It's either way, there's a link for OneGen on there too. But I share the story about OneGen, how to build a nonprofit. I've coached a couple nonprofits and helped startups, things like that. Well, he's such an encourager too. he's very good at what he does. we can tell. I don't know a lot, but I've learned. I don't know.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (54:23.342)
We're old. We get wisdom now. I just turned 63. I I don't know a whole lot, but I have learned a lot, if that makes any sense. You know what I mean? I think there's a lot of people with great ideas. If I can help them birth that idea and give them some direction, I would love to do that. How you see me now is pretty much how I am. I really don't have an agenda to coach people. I want to know what's your pain point, and I want to deal with that.

And once we fix your pain point, if you don't need me, that's cool. I'm good. But I appreciate you I'm always around. But thank you for asking. Just getting ready to get launched. So we appreciate Oh, that's exciting. Yeah. Great. Yeah. I'll your brains about that too. know, I'll be like, hey. Yeah, absolutely. Love to. Love to. Well, Chris and Elaine, thank you so much for sharing your story and the incredible work that Gwen Genoway is doing here in Middleton Sea. Your passion and your commitment, it really is amazing and reminds us.

all that we have the power to make a difference in our communities. We just have to take that initiative. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. We've loved having you guys on the show. Thank you so much. enjoyed it. Yeah, we've had a blast. We really, anytime to meet you now, we need to have dinner together. Yes. Yes, we will. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, to our listeners, if you're inspired by Chris and Elaine's story, we encourage you

encourage you to get involved, donate, volunteer, and simply spread the word. You never know who might be motivated to help after hearing about this incredible mission. As always, thank you for tuning in to You Matter Nashville. Remember, you matter and so does every individual who calls his community home. Until next time, take care and keep spreading the love. And that brings us to the end of another episode of You Matter Nashville.

We hope today's show has left you feeling as uplifted and inspired as we are. Remember, the spirit of Nashville lives in all of us, and every small act of kindness echoes throughout the community. A huge thank you for listening and even being a part of our You Matter community. If you love this episode, please share with friends and leave us a five-star review. It helps us reach more listeners and spread the love. And if you know anyone that is looking to make a move to Middle Tennessee area, we are real estate professionals known as the Hoover Team, and we would be honored to serve them with excellence.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (56:44.106)
Until next time, keep making the difference Nashville. You matter more than you know.