Our Community Programs
In support of our mission to create true community, FISH Hospitality Pantries has gone beyond feeding people to develop programs that meet the organic needs of our guests and volunteers.
In our society and our own community, there is division and often suspicion about anyone who seems different. We have dealt with this daily at FISH Pantries, as many of our guests and volunteers have been excluded or marginalized. These realities inspire and inform our
community development work.
Our first community program (Women’s Community School) grew out of a year-long conversation with leaders from congregations and neighborhoods surrounding the Northwest Pantry/Warehouse and from clergy and lay leaders from congregations throughout the Knoxville community. They reflected on values that would underpin a vision for the pantry, and on a way of collaborating
to strengthen the existing community.
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We went on to design community programs that bring together racially and economically diverse participants—community members, pantry volunteers, and guests—that break down stereotypes and misconceptions and create community. When we build relationships with people across race, ethnicity, and culture, we begin to see our common humanity.
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Participants connect more deeply to their talents and abilities. They gain a stronger sense of how
to lift their voices in the community and to act in the public arena and bring enhanced leadership capacity to their own congregations and neighborhoods. •
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Learn more about some of our Community Programs by clicking on these links: