The Well Outreach, based in Spring Hill, was designed to inspire neighbors and bring hope to people all over. What started as a neighborhood pantry quickly grew into one of Middle Tennessee’s most effective, joyful engines of community care. Providing food for the hungry in our community, The Well Outreach fully recognizes the dignity of each person who comes to them with a need—they welcome them, listen to them, pray with them and provide personal accompaniment and client choice as they shop for food. Operating without any geographical boundaries, the organization ensures that anyone who visits will be provided with food.
The Well Outreach began in 2006 as a food pantry in a local church with the goal of showing God’s love by giving food to those in need. Two years later, they began mobile food pantries as an effort to provide access to food outside of our pantry location and hours. After becoming an official nonprofit in 2009, both the team and community rallied to serve. In 2016, they acquired their first standalone space within a strip mall along Main Street in Spring Hill. It was 1500 square feet and the doorways were too narrow for us to bring food in by the pallet—so they relocated down the street, expanding their footprint to 7000 square feet. Over the past few years, they have developed family coaching, a second food pantry in Mount Pleasant, and have over 400 volunteers help them each week.
In the past six years alone, The Well has expanded from serving about 200 families a month to more than 2,300 families each month. Shelli Sassoon, CEO of The Well Outreach, highlights the positivity and welcoming spirit The Well Outreach holds. Each day, volunteers are cheerful, helpful, and sincerely guest-focused—greeting guests by name, personal shoppers slow down long enough to listen, and small kindnesses are everywhere.
“Our goal isn’t just to give away food, our goal is to give hope,” Sassoon shares.
The Well purchases strategically through regional food banks and rescues food from twenty-one grocery stores each week—items nearing their ‘sell-by’ date, discontinued products, and seasonal overages. Because of these partnerships, every dollar The Well spends on food can unlock up to ten dollars in food value through discounted purchasing and donated product. People often ask whether food or money helps more—and the answer is both. Food donations provide variety and can be routed quickly to where it’s most needed, while financial gifts let The Well buy exactly what’s missing, precisely when it’s needed—and stretch those dollars dramatically. The shelves of The Well feature items such as produce and proteins, family staples, and kid-friendly choices.
For more information on ways to help, visit www.thewelloutreach.org or follow them on socials @thewelloutreachorg.
"It Takes A Community To Feed A Community."