If you either got the scent of a delicious meal or heard some good music this past Monday night, thank the folks at Open Table Nashville.
Open Table Nashville recently hosted its 2nd annual Southern Cookin’ and Music Festival in the Flatt Amphitheater. The event was created to help raise money for the non-profit, interfaith organization.
Brett Flener, a senior Law Justice and Society major and one of the organization’s co-founders, is very appreciative of the social and service clubs that helped with the event, as well as the other supporters of the organization.
In addition to the southern food, there were several musical acts including Sarah Carter and the Pretty Ponies, Hogslop Duo, Jo’shua Odine, Relapse and Chrome Pony.
Flener likes to think of the event as “spreading joy just to spread more joy.” He sees it as a “win-win” situation for everyone involved.
Open Table Nashville defines itself as “a non-profit, interfaith community that disrupts cycles of poverty, journeys with the marginalized and provides education about issues of homelessness.”
Open Table also works to provide community and transitional housing.
Flener says that he wants everyone to know that Open Table Nashville is a community.
”We’re not really here to ‘fix’ people,” he said. “We don’t see these people as problems. We see them as brothers and sisters to be journeyed with.”
Flener said that he wants Open Table Nashville to provide a community for those who have lost their own.
“What we are looking to do, especially through our community houses, is to plug in and say ‘We want to be that family now,” he said. “We want to be that support system now. We want to grow with you. We want to walk with you even through the hard times.”
Flener says the organization’s main focus is “developing relationships and really knowing people”. Through this, Flener believes that once you get to know someone, you realize that they are giving to you just as much as you are giving to them.
“You are both serving each other in different capacities.,” he said.
Currently, the organization is having conversations with Lipscomb concerning the planning of a community house within walking distance of Lipscomb, as well as the development of a partnership with the university and its students.
For those who wish to get involved with Open Table Nashville, you can contact the organization at their website http://www.opentablenashville.org/ for information. Flener also urges anyone to contact him concerning joining the group that will raise support for the community house near Lipscomb.