MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- "Most food trucks drive past the homeless, our food trucks are looking for the homeless," says Aiyana Jones, Community Outreach Coordinator for Daughters of Zion. The first homeless food truck in the state of Tennessee, and one of the first in the country, whose purpose is to "launch war against hunger and homelessness" by providing food, job training, and housing for the homeless, begins serving its first meals on Thursday, February 15, 2024. The renowned fighting poverty organization, Daughters of Zion, created the Homeless Food Truck with the purpose of curtailing hunger in their community by using the bait and switch method. The "bait" involves serving nutritious meals to homeless children and adults, while the "switch" encompasses providing services, such as job training and educational support, to the homeless individuals they feed, in order to help prevent recurring homelessness. Their plan is to rescue food from grocery stores and restaurants and repurpose it in their war against hunger and homelessness, as publications such as the HuffPost have cited Memphis, Tennessee as the "hunger capital of America."
Daughters of Zion staff taking the homeless in the 2024 snow storm to lunch to Applebees
Dr. Kiner posing with individuals served at the Daughters of Zion Warning Center
The original Daughters of Zion Homeless Food Truck is a Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van food truck with a commercially integrated kitchen that was once meant to serve food to the affluent clients of billionaire investor Marc Lore. Now, many of those same Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van food trucks are being used to serve people who could never have dreamt of affording a mobile chef delivery service. While currently operating throughout Shelby County, Tennessee, the Daughters of Zion Homeless Food Truck plans to expand across America to help provide no-cost meals to homeless children and adults in cities with the highest concentration of homeless individuals.
This would not be possible without the invaluable support of Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, Commissioner Whaley, Commissioner Wright, Commissioner Lowery, Vice Chair Caswell, Commissioner Sugarmon, Commissioner Ford, and Chairwoman Clay Bibbs, who have championed crucial homeless prevention measures and paved the way for the funding of Daughters of Zion's first Homeless Food Truck.
Dr. Gerald Kiner, Ph.D., Executive Director of Daughters of Zion, stated, "This is what can happen when our visionary government leaders work with poverty-fighting organizations to come up with creative solutions to pre-existing problems. Groundbreaking things can occur as you see happening now. Our mission is to help the homeless population we serve move from hunger to homes by providing them with crucial social services that equip them with the skills to prevent recurring homelessness. We discovered the best way to begin was to declare a war against hunger because food, clothes, and shelter are the three basic necessities - and food is listed first for a reason. So, before we can prevent recurrences of the other issues, we must first address the hunger issue."
To help fight hunger and homelessness, please call the Daughters of Zion Homeless Food Truck helpline at 901-570-3220 or visit us at www.homelessfoodtruck.com
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