Hope on the Row is a national based nonprofit that I founded in June of 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
I sort of accidentally started Hope on the Row. It started by me going into the community with a mask on and a backpack full of supplies that I was buying myself. I started posting on my social media asking if people wanted to Venmo me to contribute and within a few weeks there was a team of people and money coming in. I figured it could become a real thing.
I started this organization with no prior knowledge. I am a musician and have no college degree, but I often tell people, you are as qualified to do this as the next person with feelings and empathy.
Every Sunday at 2pm is when we go to the street to help the unhoused in Nashville. In the morning I'll go to the storage unit to pick up tables and donations we've gotten, then I'll head to to the store to buy groceries for about 200 people. From there I go straight to the street we set up on right behind one of the biggest shelters for the unhoused in Nashville.
I love that Hope on the Row is on Sundays because I can end and start my week with the perspective of how fortunate we all are. It puts my own struggles massively into perspective. There's a huge stigma around people experiencing homelessness and I think that people don't realize that some of the time, we are just one step away from being in that situation too and I wish people had more empathy for that. I’ve also learned a lot by working with these people and seeing their resilience. The human spirit is so strong in everybody that I work with.
I sort of accidentally started Hope on the Row. It started by me going into the community with a mask on and a backpack full of supplies that I was buying myself. I started posting on my social media asking if people wanted to Venmo me to contribute and within a few weeks there was a team of people and money coming in. I figured it could become a real thing.
I started this organization with no prior knowledge. I am a musician and have no college degree, but I often tell people, you are as qualified to do this as the next person with feelings and empathy.
Every Sunday at 2pm is when we go to the street to help the unhoused in Nashville. In the morning I'll go to the storage unit to pick up tables and donations we've gotten, then I'll head to to the store to buy groceries for about 200 people. From there I go straight to the street we set up on right behind one of the biggest shelters for the unhoused in Nashville.
I love that Hope on the Row is on Sundays because I can end and start my week with the perspective of how fortunate we all are. It puts my own struggles massively into perspective. There's a huge stigma around people experiencing homelessness and I think that people don't realize that some of the time, we are just one step away from being in that situation too and I wish people had more empathy for that. I’ve also learned a lot by working with these people and seeing their resilience. The human spirit is so strong in everybody that I work with.