Started 16 years ago when Spring Hill had a population of 11,000 residents, The Well Outreach began as a small church ministry food pantry to help feed people in crisis. Now boasting 50,000 residents, the city of Spring Hill welcomed The Well Outreach to its permanent 7,000 square foot facility on 5306 Main Street two weeks before COVID started to force closures. The 501(c)3 non-profit was forced to pivot and began offering drive-through food pick-up services. As one of only a few food organizations without qualifiers or geographic boundaries, and the only food ministry with day, evening, and weekend hours, the Well is excited to finally open its doors to those in need. Its motto, “It takes a community to feed a community” highlights the need for volunteer support as well as its focus on feeding the working poor.
Serving those facing food scarcity with the highest level of excellence and dignity, The Well offers its guests access to a unique open-shop client-choice food pantry. Guests are invited into the lobby for a cup of coffee and to visit the welcome center. Executive Director Shelly Sassen states, “To a lot of people what we give away is food but what we really try to give away is hope through the medium of food.” Using a shopping cart, guests are able to select the items they want from the open shelves. Currently, 500-600 families are served each month. Guests can also pick up household, elder care, baby and hygiene items.
The Well also provides nutritious, non-perishable, brand-name food for the weekend to children of food-deficient households through their JetPack program. The cool drawstring backpacks are distributed to 25 schools and 850 students each week during the school year.
To understand the value of The Well Outreach is to understand that one in seven children in Tennessee faces hunger. Unfortunately, we cannot “see” food scarcity and many of us are unaware of our neighbors in need. SpringHillWell.org
If you feel called to help, here are a few ways to get involved:
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Sponsor a JetPack ($5.50/week or $220/year per student)
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Feed a local family ($1/day or $30/month)
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Volunteer
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Donate food (there is a dropbox on site)
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Host a neighborhood food drive
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Plan to attend the 4th of July 5k and Color Run
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Plan to attend the Whole Hog Festival in October