FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Franklin-based food ministry is stepping in to support TSA workers at Nashville International Airport who are missing paychecks as the government shutdown drags on. I visited the organization to see how they are making sure these workers and their families do not go hungry.
One Generation Away has provided nearly 3 million meals so far this year. The organization plans to continue helping TSA workers for as long as the shutdown impacts their pay. Volunteers are helping pack 240 boxes of meals, including fruits, vegetables, and meats, for TSA workers at the airport.
"We are a food ministry that started here in Franklin, Tennessee, out of the back of a Hyundai Santa Fe about 13 years ago," Chris Whitney said.
Whitney is the CEO of One Generation Away, an organization that has been feeding people since 2013. He understands the need personally, as he was in a food line decades earlier.
"My wife and I were in a food line 35 years ago when our daughter was born with spina bifida," Whitney said.
Today, that mission meets a growing need for TSA workers showing up to work without pay.
"They told me at TSA, they've missed one paycheck. They're getting ready to miss a cycle and maybe one more. So that's the equivalent for most of us, is two months of pay," Whitney said.
Whitney said the effort is about more than food; it is about making sure the workers are seen and reminding the community who these workers are.
"We wanted to know TSA workers, man, we see you, and we see you with all the hope, honor, and dignity we have in us," Whitney said.
"These workers protect us every time we walk into an airport, so the least we can do is protect them and serve them to the best of our ability," Whitney said.
"It takes all of us to make this go away, this disaster we call hunger, that happens daily. It takes all of us. It takes a city, it takes a region for us to say we are not going to allow anyone to be hungry," Whitney said.
The mission is also pulling in local businesses, like Honest Coffee Roasters, to build partnerships based on shared values.
"We have a display set up at our main location in the factory where we use these bags here, and it's the One Gen blend. With each purchase, it feeds five families," Kory Wheeler said.
"Our name is Honest Coffee, you know, we want to do things that are honest and good, and we want to work with people that are doing the same things," Wheeler said.
For Whitney, the mission comes back to one core belief.
"No one should miss a meal because of a paycheck. No one!" Whitney said.
This story was reported on-air by journalist Kelsey Gibbs and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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