There is intentionality in the name EVERY BODY because it signals the importance and need that the body, at every age and stage of life, has in order to be healthy, functional, and to thrive. 

Everybody deserves to have food options other than processed foods - high in cholesterol and sodium - that often come packaged as inexpensive combo meals with sugary drinks.  

For food justice activists and faith leaders, Rev. Rochelle Andrews and Rev. Dr. Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais, food insecurity is real and data shows that thousands of Tennesseans are impacted by uncertainty of where and how they will access fresh, affordable, nutritious meals. This is complicated for residents who live in areas where there are no grocery stores. The impact is magnified for Tennesseans who rely on public transportation , and have to travel for extensive periods on a route just to get to a grocery store. For Andrews and Blair-Lavallais, the creators, cultivators, and founders of EVERY BODY NEEDS FOOD, they believe that we all have a responsibility to ensure that EVERY BODY has access to fresh, healthy, affordable food. They recognize that is is not enough to just talk about it - they are committed to actively and purposefully doing something about it. 

Rooted in the belief that access to healthy food is a basic human for all, and not a privilege for some, at its core, EVERY BODY NEEDS FOOD is built on the premise of mutual aid. This is a concept in the African American faith tradition that supports community asset mapping and collective works as a way to be responsible for redressing the human suffering in the community. In other words, when the community comes together to respond to the cries of the needy, there is no longer a deficit of resources; in this case, those who are insecure, uncertain and unsure of how they will access healthy food, now have a way to be connected to it through this digital platform. 

As public theologians, strategists and ordained pastors in The African Methodist Episcopal Church and The United Methodist Church, Rochelle and Yvette first began their collaboration in 2018 as inaugural cohort members of the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Driven by their faith and each bringing their years of experience and compassion for food justice, Rev. Rochelle and Dr. Yvette strategized in the summer of 2024 to introduce an innovative and human-centered design approach to developing a digital web-based platform to aid in responding to food insecurity. They took their idea, applied for the TIDEL Fellowship program at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York to secure grant funding and other important resources, and were chosen to implement their vision. They immersed themselves in the rigorous human-centered design thinking course, held focus groups, made pivots along the way, and concluded that a digital web-based platform fills a gap in responding to food insecurity. This is the genesis of EVERY BODY NEEDS FOOD. A dignified way to help neighbors in under-resourced communities in Tennessee find food. A way to eliminate the red tape, hassle and barriers of requirement and rules just to get food. 

When Dr. Yvette was named the 2024-25 Equity Research Fellow for Feeding America, the nation's largest charitable food relief organization, EVERY BODY NEEDS FOOD expanded even more and became an integral part of the duo's portfolio of understanding how communities and food banks - the charitable food system - can work more collaboratively and cohesively to dismantle barriers in accessing food. As the rise in food insecurity unfortunately continues across America, EVERYBODY from children to senior adults are impacted. Responding to food insecurity is communal work. 

This collaborative effort involves members of the faith community, food banks, food pantries, pop-up food giveaways, non-profits, and our grocery stores who willingly share their overages of food with those in need. 

EVERY BODY NEEDS FOOD is positioning itself as the stop gap that calls together community partners to prioritize action-oriented and advocacy-focused solutions to ensure that ALL people - everybody - has access to free or low-cost fresh, affordable, nutritious, cultural and diet-specific food. 

For more information about supporting this community work, please contact Rev. Rochelle or Dr. Yvette at hello@everybodyneedsfood.org.