It’s a rainy morning at FiftyForward’s Knowles Center, but that doesn’t seem to be slowing anyone down — there’s a buzzing energy at the organization’s main facility. Older adults who are members of FiftyForward Friends, a day program for seniors, arrive for a day full of activities ranging from exercise classes to bingo. Volunteers pick up meals to deliver via FiftyForward Fresh, the organization’s mobile meals program, laughing and chatting with one another as they wait in line for their bags. Members of their community center pop by to enjoy a hot lunch. And at some point, The Nashville Food Project pulls up to deliver pans of beef stroganoff and roasted veggies.
FiftyForward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting adults aged 50 and older in Middle Tennessee through a variety of programs and services aimed at promoting health, well-being, and community engagement. Their programming is extensive, but is ultimately focused on developing community and purpose. Currently, The Nashville Food Project delivers about 560 meals each week to support this focus.
On this particular day, the FiftyForward Friends program participants are doing chair yoga. The room looks relaxed, the lights dimmed as the instructor guides them through stretching and meditation. In the next room over, staff members Rebecca and Heather are heating and portioning plates of creamy chicken casserole, broccoli, and oranges. “About a quarter of the meals shared by The Nashville Food Project are served here, while the rest are delivered as mobile meals,” explains Rebecca. “Everybody looks forward to lunch.”
Around the round tables at lunchtime, conversation comes easily. Steve and Zura, who both come five days a week and eat lunch together every day, joke incessantly with one another, making anyone in their orbit feel right at home. Marilyn embroiders between bites, explaining that it’s good for her hands and makes her happy. Janet talks about her Pennsylvania roots and her life there as an art teacher; she now lives in town with her daughter and still enjoys art and music. When we play music trivia after lunch, she knows every song.
Every day, program participants come to FiftyForward to experience connection in this vibrant community where friendships are forged, talents are celebrated, and laughter echoes through the halls. For a demographic that commonly struggles with isolation, the environment that FiftyForward provides is enriching and life-giving.
FiftyForward also builds essential community through their mobile meals program, where staff, volunteers, and, thanks to a recent partnership, DoorDash drivers, make deliveries to housebound seniors. Volunteers drive the same routes — hitting, on average, eight stops per route — over and over, so they become a familiar face to many of the meals recipients. Over time, they form relationships and are often the first to know if those folks need attention or something is wrong. Most volunteers are happy to jump in and educate seniors on how to reheat meals or advise on the shelf-life of canned goods. The easy-to-reach-for meals they deliver provide necessary nourishment, but it’s the regular check-ins that have the greatest impact on the lives of these seniors.
To support the partnership with FiftyForward, The Nashville Food Project relies on daily volunteer teams who prepare ingredients and cook the meals that are distributed. A large portion of these volunteers are also older adults, and they often tell us that our kitchen is a place they come to experience community and purpose.
“I started volunteering in the kitchen twelve years ago,” Mary Dionne, a longtime senior volunteer, recently told us. “I enjoy it a lot — it's good for me, and I feel like I'm doing something to help people. I come back because it's a way to give back, and it's great to be around people who are trying to make a difference in other people's lives through food, through community, and bringing people together.”
The food these senior volunteers make is often delivered directly to other older adults. We’re so grateful for how many aspects of our partnership with FiftyForward prevent isolation for older adults by bringing people together over a scratch-made meal.