Many families struggle to put food on the table every day, and country star Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, are offering a new way to help those in need. The couple are teaming up with Belmont University, which is Brad's alma mater, to open a grocery store called The Store, where all the items will be free.
The Store will be located in Nashville, and it will be a food bank set up like a supermarket. As People reports, for one year, the location will serve both fresh and nonperishable items to people in need. The Store will also set up a toy aisle for kids over the holidays, and the goal for the first year is to serve 3,000 people. Customers will be referred to The Store by nonprofits and government agencies.
Brad also serves as the president of The Store's board of trustees, and he told The Tennessean The Store will be a place "with dignity for people who have fallen on hard times. All of us are one unforeseen disaster away from rock bottom. It’s nice to think about a place where when that happens to someone, they can use it to get back on their feet."
Pete Fisher, co-chair of The Store’s board of trustees and CEO of the Academy of Country Music, also told The Tennessean, "A lot of times when people fall on tough times, they don’t need a lifeline for a lifetime, they just need a bridge and the store affords those families a dignified way to cross that bridge and achieve that self-sufficiency."
The Paisleys were inspired to create The Store after they volunteered at Unity Shoppe in Santa Barbara, California with their sons. Unity Shoppe is also a food bank set up as a grocery store. Initially they visited to teach their sons a lesson about humility, but realized the idea could easily apply in Nashville.
“So many people are making great choices in their lives,” Kimberly told the newspaper. “It’s not like they’ve made major mistakes, they just need a little extra help and we want to be a resource for those people.”
The Store is located at 2005 12th Ave. S. in Nashville, but it hasn't opened its doors quite yet. The Store needs $500,000 to break ground, and the total construction will cost about $1.2 million. Donations are currently being accepted here.
