“We want to welcome people like family”
The Good News with Brad Schmitt
Last week, a neighbor joined us for dinner & wrote about his experience for the Tennessean. Brad captured the heart of what we’re all about in his newsletter, The Good News with Brad Schmitt. I’m sharing the article with his permission & including some of my own thoughts at the end.
Ultimately, Brad’s reflection is about you & the kind of radically welcoming community that you are to all our neighbors. Super grateful for each of you.
Here’s Brad’s article:
‘We’ve become friends’
Ever volunteered to hand out food, clothes or other essentials to folks who are unhoused or have other challenges? Wonderful work, but it sets up an us-them dynamic that some people think unintentionally brings shame to recipients.
One person working hard to change that is Zach Lykins, a one-time healthcare tech exec who now runs nonprofit Trinity Community Commons in East Nashville.
Every Tuesday night, Zach and his organization host a free community meal, one where East Nashville neighbors of all income levels share dinner together. And, of course I couldn't help but notice, the food is wonderful! I had the best focaccia pizza, salad with homemade carrot dressing and homemade sweet potato pie with homemade whipped cream when I joined them this week.
A weekly community meal at nonprofit Trinity Community Commons in East Nashville on March 26, 2024. The meals aims to bring together neighbors of all income levels to come together and get to know each other better
Brad Schmitt / Tennessean
But the food is almost beside the point.
"There are lots of organizations that do direct feeding," Zach said, "but the more important goal is to build strong community relationships; those provide more support for families and neighbors, especially those on the margins."
Yes, folks in need can get connected to services and resources, and yes, there are regular attendees from nonprofit Open Table Nashville who can help those who need it.
But Zach really hopes to just have neighbors connect and build relationships as people, not as givers and receivers. And he hopes those relationships will grow beyond the Tuesday night meals.
"We really want to welcome people like family members," Zach said.
Like family (well, some families anyway 😄), everyone who attends plays a role at the dinner — some folks make the food, some serve it, some clean up. Those who are so moved and who are able make donations for their meals. The Nashville Food Project and the Methodist church help support the meals as well.
The menu for the Tuesday night dinner at Trinity Community Commons in East Nashville on March 26, 2024
Brad Schmitt / Tennessean
Once a month, they pump up the dinner with live music and vendors.
Margaret Frank, 75, a community organizer who has served the needy for most of her life, has been coming to the weekly dinner for about five months. Margaret said she likes the unique way she can connect with people there.
"You can sit next to somebody who is a person of influence and you can turn around and sit next to someone who’s unsheltered and struggling and looking for help. It’s a melting pot," Margaret said.
"If you want to experience humanity, it’s where you go. I love it!"
If you want to read more stories like this, check out The Good News with Brad Schmitt. You can sign up for his weekly emailed newsletter at tennessean.com/goodnews, and you can find him at brad@tennessean.com and https://twitter.com/bradschmitt.
Brad’s piece is really about you: a host of neighbors & community partners who together want to welcome all people into friendship & so that together we can flourish. These end of month meals are so special because of neighbors like Sam & Josh of Tasty Bois Food Co. who prepared the pizza & carrot dressing Brad enjoyed, and Margaret who made the sweet potato pie. I loved having Jacob Milstein & friends out there performing live music for us as well.
If you want to help us host meals like this that welcome all people to the table as equals, send me a message at zach@trinitycommunitycommons.org, or become a monthly supporter.
From Radical Hospitality to Radical Kinship
Brad and I talked for a while, and only a few things made it into his article. I’m glad he included this: "We really want to welcome people like family members." Of course there are unhealthy families - Brad even notes this with a smile (“well, some families anyway 😄”). But in the best, truest sense, a family is a group committed to your good, who will always love and support each other, bear one another’s burdens, forgive, and welcome each other back with tenderness. I think we should treat more people like family.
Father Gregory Boyle writes about what he calls Radical Kinship in his book Barking to the Choir, and I believe it’s the natural, logical outcome if we’re truly showing Radical Hospitality to our neighbors.
Radical Kinship is the idea that we are all in fact one family: connected to each other, seeking good things for each other, calling out the good in each other, and standing in solidarity with one another through hard times. And this one-ness has to include people that much of society looks down on or excludes. No judgement or moralizing; just awe, gratitude, and deep respect.
“Standing with the marginalized and getting to know them makes it impossible to demonize them. That means standing with the disposable so that the day will come that we stop throwing people away.”
In practice, Radical Kinship will move us out from behind the volunteer table and next to the people we serve as brothers and sisters. It should move us from a high position of superiority down to a humble seat at the feet of our unhoused neighbors, so we can learn from and understand them as equals. It should guide us past a hand out and onward to flinging open our doors, welcoming others in to our homes & to our tables, and widening our family circles.
These deep, authentic relationships with our neighbors won’t solve all our problems right away. But in the long run, I’m convinced that radical kinship will lead to the kind of change we long to see in our hearts, in our communities, and ultimately in the systems, policies, and cities that shape us.
If you want to become more deeply connected to your neighbors, especially those on the margins - not to get ahead, not to build a resume or rack up volunteer hours, but simply to become a more loving community together - this is your invitation. The kind of community we long to see is possible - and we need you to help us build it.
Thank you, neighbors and donors!
Moving towards radical kinship starts with sharing dinner together. Over the last few weeks, you helped us build picnic tables & garden beds, host meals & music out on the lawn, and welcome more neighbors into community life at Trinity. We couldn’t do this without you! Deeply grateful for your generosity.
