Brad Paisley and wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley have teamed with Belmont University and Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to open The Store—a free grocery store—in Nashville.
The Store will receive a $1.5 million 2Gen Family Wellbeing Program grant from the Department of Human Services. The grant will also support the Belmont Ministry Center, which opened last year to assist low income families with health screenings, legal aid clinics, mental health counseling and more.
The Store, which broke ground in April, will operate as a year-round free grocery store that allows people to shop for their basic needs. Clients will be given the opportunity to come to The Store for a one-year period. There is no charge to those referred or to the people and agencies that send them. They may shop for food to supplement their income during times of crisis and as they work toward self-sufficiency.
Brad and Kimberly were inspired to get involved in the Nashville project after volunteering at a similar organization, Unity Shoppe, in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The Store, which is located at 2005 12th Ave. S. next to Belmont University’s Ministry Center, hopes to serve 3,000 people per year. It is expected to open in early 2020.
Belmont administrators and members of The Store Board celebrated the grant announcement with Tennessee Department of Human Services Commissioner Danielle W. Barnes.https://t.co/WI6b2RmjkL pic.twitter.com/PcNpD2TwuH
— TheStoreNashville (@TheStoreNash) August 20, 2019
