When most people anticipate a trip to Nashville, they think about visiting the Grand Ole Opry or checking out live local music on Broadway. But the Regent executives and team leaders who converged on the Music City for the company’s annual “Innov8” management meeting donated their Monday to an even better cause: they spent a service day volunteering with Cul2vate, filling buckets with soil in preparation for growing vegetables to help feed the hungry.
Cul2vate, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is focused on growing food and providing jobs and job training for people in mid-Tennessee “who suffer from physical hunger, and those who hunger for a fresh start.” The group taps volunteers to grow produce and donate it to those without access to fresh vegetables – one in five Nashville residents lives in a food desert, defined as a neighborhood that lacks healthy food sources. The second aspect of Cul2vate’s mission is to provide those in need with a fresh start: part-time work, job readiness and life skills training.
According to Regent’s coordinator for the event Jocelyn Ocampo, Regent’s management team from across the country participated in the service day, taking action in support of Regent’s R.I.S.E. values. “Everybody was really happy to be outside the office or surgery center and out on the farm getting our hands dirty and helping to improve people’s lives,” she said.
Regent CEO Chris Bishop is on the Board of Directors for Cul2Vate and feels strongly about the mission of the organization. “Cul2vate’s ‘Growing Food, Growing People’ mandate is driven from a Scripture lesson that teaches about caring for others: ‘I was hungry, and you fed me,’ Bishop explains. “Our work with the Cul2vate organization very directly supports our company values for Respectful Caring and Stewardship, encouraging compassion and developing people while fostering a safe environment.”
Regent’s Cul2vate day of service was part of Regent Care’s, our company-wide initiative to give back to our communities. For more information, contact Thomas Crossen at tcrossen@regentsh.com.
Volunteering with Cul2vate
