About Open Table Nashville
It all started on a scorching day in the late summer of 2008, over two years before “Open Table Nashville” was conceived. It started when we—a handful of outreach workers, ministers, and volunteers—were introduced to Tent City, Nashville’s largest homeless encampment located on the banks of the Cumberland River. Over the next two years, we became friends with the residents, advocated with them for their rights, received hospitality from them, attended their weddings and funerals, and realized that a majority of the residents couldn’t stay at traditional shelters because they were couples, pet owners, severally mentally ill, or worked non-traditional work hours. We helped move over 60 Tent City residents into permanent housing, and as the residents left their tents, others moved in. At its prime, just before the flood in May 2010, about 140 people (along with over a dozen cats and dogs) called Tent City home. When the flood hit, we evacuated the residents and their pets to the Red Cross Shelter at Lipscomb University and promised them that we would not abandon them. In the midst of the post-flood chaos, we didn’t grasp the gravity of that promise nor did we foresee the ways it would change our lives. Madge, one of our dedicated volunteers and board members, as she is moving someone into housing When the Red Cross Shelter was closing, the city of Nashville failed to provide adequate solutions for the majority of the displaced residents (many of whom would be sent to the streets only to be subsequently arrested). Because we had promised the residents that we would stand beside them, we began organizing volunteers, collecting donations, and asking the city, churches, and land-owners for land on which we could to set-up a temporary encampment. Lee Beaman, owner of Beaman Toyota, offered us 124-acres of land in Antioch, TN, so we moved about 40 of the displaced residents there. After spending 40 days on a 2-acre track of Beaman’s land, the city closed the camp because of outcries from the Antioch community who didn’t want “the homeless” (i.e. displaced flood victims) temporarily in their “back yards” and because the land wasn’t zoned for camping. Then, Hobson United Methodist Church in East Nashville offered to rent us their parsonage for a number of displaced residents to live in which is now called “Hobson House” and serves as community and transitional housing. After months of 80-hour work weeks, we went on a two-day retreat in Southeast Tennessee. There, we came up with the name for our group; a group that was growing into a movement through the energy and tension that had been forming around us and around Tent City for years. We named it “Open Table Nashville” (OTN), and in June of 2011, OTN became a religious, interfaith 501(c)(3) non-profit community. In January of 2011, Ingrid McIntyre became the Executive Director. “When people ask about the name ‘Open Table,’” says McIntyre, “they ask if it’s about a ‘food thing.’ I tell them that we’re all motivated by our faith and that to us, Open Table means a place where everyone is welcome. The table is never too full and there’s always an open seat. I guess we could have called it ‘Available Chair,’ but that didn’t have the same ring.”