Partnership helping bring food to Chattanooga communities

Darrell Dodds, left, and Kevin Muhammad sort bread while giving out food Thursday, February 4, 2016 on 38th Street.
Darrell Dodds, left, and Kevin Muhammad sort bread while giving out food Thursday, February 4, 2016 on 38th Street.
photo Cabbage fills boxes Thursday, Februrary 4, 2016 on 38th Street.

Local Nation of Islam leader Kevin Muhammad operated a restaurant for three years in Alton Park with the intent of providing wholesome food to a community with the highest rates of obesity and high blood pressure in the city.

But few people came to eat, and some who did come had no money to pay.

So Muhammad took a different approach.

He formed a community-based group and developed a partnership with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. Then Muhammad and the group started giving healthy food away for free.

On Thursday, the group of fewer than 10 people distributed 1,000 pounds of potatoes, 750 pounds of cabbage and 600 pounds of bakery products to more than 100 families in the Alton Park and Westside communities.

The group distributes the food at 103 W. 38th St. twice a month, every other Thursday.

Weekly distribution begins this spring.

Chips and candy aren't included in the selection, just produce and baked goods.

The next distribution is scheduled for 4 p.m. Feb. 18.

Eighty-year-old Dorothy Bell was among those who came to get food last week.

"This extends whatever I've got at home," she said, while leaning on her cane before selecting a cabbage.

Crystal Dixon feeds her daughter and granddaughter with food from the program.

"I don't get assistance from the state. This is the help I get," she said.

The local group modeled its program after People United for Change, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that distributes food weekly to the community.

Local residents who want food just have to come and give their names and addresses. The group spreads bags of potatoes, bread and baked goods on three cafeteria-style tables. Cabbages sit in nearby tall boxes. Muhammad gives people bags and allows them to serve themselves.

On Thursday, Muhammad's friend Sidney Muhammad helped set up tables. He's been with the group since the food distribution started in 2015.

His wife, Victoria, peeled wilted leaves off cabbages and made sure the best-looking heads were available.

His brother, Darrell Dodds, put the grocery bags in cars.

Asked why he distributes food, Sidney Muhammad responded, "I love the people, and the people are hungry."

Muhammad and other community members pay out of pocket to purchase the food from the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, which provides the food at a discounted price and uses the money for food storage and to transport it. Muhammad said he usually doesn't know what food he'll get until it's close to distribution time. He usually gets the surplus of produce donated by local grocery stores.

The group is among more than 300 Chattanooga Area Food Bank partners helping provide some 3.3 million meals a year, said Elizabeth Weidenaar, the food bank's director of communications and corporate engagement.

Any 501(c)(3) organization can form the same partnership as Muhammad and his community-based group, Weidenaar said. The Food Bank looks for groups that can provide long-term food distribution service to people and those that can provide other social services.

The partnership helps the food bank bring nutritious food to people who do not have easy access to the food bank or stores selling healthful food. Inner-city communities without access to full-service grocery stores are also communities where many residents suffer from obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

In 2010, obesity affected 70 percent of blacks in East Chattanooga and South Chattanooga, which includes Alton Park, according to the Hamilton County Health Department.

United Way 211 officials get the highest number of calls requesting food and other basic needs from the East Chattanooga area, which includes the 37404 and 37406 ZIP codes, according Eileen Robertson-Rehberg, United Way's director of community impact, data analysis and strategy.

Muhammad said he noticed the need for nutritious food in Alton Park and wanted to help.

He said his goal with the free food distribution is the same goal he had with his restaurant: to help people eat to live.

Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6431.

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