YOUNG LEADERS Bottom left: Aiden Tacy Kelly and his dad, Brendan. Right: Kellys’ Community Kitchen rescued 624 pounds of food in November.
Serving Up an Extra Helping of Kindness Aiden Tacy Kelly turns his senior project into a food rescue nonprofit by Grace Kennedy photography by Jon Beyerle
When it comes to the issue of food insecurity, Aiden Tacy Kelly thinks outside the boxed lunch. Back in early 2020, the Pine Lake Preparatory student was designing his senior project and decided to focus on providing food to underserved populations in the community. The problem of food insecurity became clear to him whenever his family would venture out of their hometown of Davidson to visit Charlotte. Those were the days of the “Tent City” north of Uptown, and that was an eye-opener to Aiden. “Having to make choices like, ‘Will I eat today, or gas up the car?’ or ‘Which child can I feed today?’ is just not fair when I see all the comforts and excess some of us have,” he says. “Why not try to connect the extras some of us have with those that don’t have enough?” Like many pre-COVID initiatives, Aiden’s original idea has taken twists and turns. In the beginning, Aiden and his father, a former chef, planned to cook unused produce and perishables to distribute at the Tent City. When COVID transformed the restaurant supply chain and the Tent City was removed, Aiden relied on his creativity and the support of his family to keep his mission going. Instead of cooking food, Aiden and his team (his mother and father, Beth and Brendan, brother Liam, uncle Carl Tacy, Jr., and Aiden’s grandmother) began “rescuing” surplus food from college and university dining halls and partnering with existing organizations to get it distributed. “We had put so much work into [the project] and were so excited that we couldn’t turn our back on it,” says Aiden. “You have to be 24
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flexible and take what comes your way. We are feeding way more people this way, so it’s kind of a blessing.” The project, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called Kellys’ Community Kitchen, recovers 150 pounds of fully cooked or flash-frozen food weekly from Belmont Abbey and UNC Charlotte, and partners with FeedNC in Mooresville, and Samaritan Ministries and Salvation Army in Winston-Salem, for distribution. November was a record-setting month, with 624 pounds of food rescued and reallocated. Now that people are finding out about Kellys’ Community Kitchen, they are working on additional partnerships. Kellys’ Community Kitchen fills a sizeable gap that food pantries and soup kitchens don’t readily touch: safely repurposing surplus cooked food. According to the FDA, 40 percent of the food in America remains unconsumed, making Aiden’s mission a blessing not only to our neighbors, but to the environment as well. The journey has had its challenges, but through it all, Aiden has modeled persistence and adaptability — two qualities that will serve him well as he enters college. He hasn’t pinned down a field yet, but he’s interested in public health, public policy, and pharmacy. Wherever he lands, he will have left an incredible gift to his home community. Learn more about Kellys’ Community Kitchen and join the cause at www.kckdavidson.org.
