KEEPING FAMILIES FED

FEEDING THE REGION

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – A $100,000 challenge grant quickly doubled on Thursday in an effort to generate financial support for Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee.

The regional food bank hosted an event Thursday, where Ballad Health Chairman and CEO Alan Levine announced a $100,000 pledge and challenged other businesses and individuals to match that amount.

Moments later, businessman and philanthropist Scott Nicewonger matched Ballad's $100,000 – effectively doubling the challenge for the region to raise an additional $200,000.

The food bank provided more than 11.6 million meals and distributed nearly 14 million pounds of food across eight last fall when the federal government shutdown temporarily paused SNAP benefits to thousands in this region.

Ballad donated $100,000 to the food bank last year amid the SNAP benefits crisis, Levine said.

"Families all of a sudden not knowing if they would be able to feed their kids really hit me hard," Levine said of the 2025 gift. "We see people at their most vulnerable times – in our hospitals and in our clinics. To have that kind of stress added was unconscionable. It seemed to be a reasonable thing to do the make sure people had the resources they needed to fill the gaps."

During that time Second Harvest served 21,600 people, providing 196,000 meals and over 235,700 pounds of food.

"Today was just really an affirmation of the great work they did," Levine said. "They stood up 13 distribution centers and we saw the efficiency of using the resources we gave them to bring the benefits to the people that needed it. It was a great example of getting resources to people who need it so why wouldn't we increase our investment now?

"I should have known Scott Nicewonger would immediately match the challenge. If I'd know he was going to do that, I might have made the number bigger," Levine said.

Asked to clarify if this was now a $200,000 challenge, both men agreed it was.

"We would love to see $200,000 in additional contributions provided to the food bank," Levine said in response to the question.

"It's an additional $100,000 up to that match," Nicewonger said. "We want other people to come in and match those funds."

Nicewonger said he hadn't planned to announce his personal gift publicly.

"We're so blessed to receive this news. We're so delighted because this truly helps us at a time when we need it most. We're at our lowest point [food reserves]," food bank Executive Director Rhonda Chafin said. "We've gone through the holidays, we've gone through a SNAP disruption, so we've been trying to replenish. As we replenish, its going out as fast as we can get it in."

Each $1 donated provides to up three meals to residents eight Northeast Tennessee counties and 94 cents of each dollar goes to those in need, according to the food bank.

"We had a conversation just this week that we were going to have to allocate an additional $500,000 from our reserves to be able to replenish – that was over and above our budget amount, which the board supports wholeheartedly…This comes at a time when we truly needed to step up our efforts and make sure we have adequate food for our neighbors, to be able to nourish them and have the food they need."

More than 90,600 people across the region are classified as food insecure, meaning they are uncertain where the next meal will come from.

Of that total, more than 26,500 live in Sullivan County, or about 16.6% of the county's total population.

Chafin said this challenge enables the food bank to keep the community engaged in the food bank's ongoing programs.

"We have so many people that are hurting in this area – seniors, families with children," Chafin said. "We have hundreds of people in this area that are above that SNAP threshold that can't get assistance because they make $14 too much – a single mom who makes $14 too much and she's providing for her two sons. That's a situation so many people are faced with – they don't have the adequate resources to buy food."

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | Twitter: @DMcGeeBHC