Thoughts from the Man Cave

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 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.

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From School Assignment to Successful Business

customers anD retailers love tasty picKles by carson

by Mike Savicki | photography by Lisa Crates

Carson Lester is a 20 year old who is going places. But it hasn’t always been that way. Nor has it been easy. When you have autism and learning disabilities life can be hard. School can be paralyzing. And the thought of getting a job and working for someone else in the real world after graduation can be flat out terrifying.

When Carson was still at South Iredell High School, his teacher asked him to come up with a plan for a business. He knew it had to be something entrepreneurial that he could do himself. At first, he thought about building a greenhouse to grow and sell flowers, but that idea didn’t materialize. So he turned to pickles, his favorite food. Not knowing much about the process or what it would actually take to make and jar pickles, he nevertheless brought the assignment home on a Friday, got to work researching, planning, pulling together the necessary ingredients and equipment (from his mom Debra’s kitchen), making a test batch, and then jarring his first pint-sized set. Carson returned to school the following Monday with jars ready to go.

His business outline said he planned to sell the jars but, truth be told, his mom didn’t think anyone would buy them. She gave Carson $20 and secretly passed them out to a few friends with the strict instructions that if he asked, they would tell him the money he received had come from their pickle purchases. Debra thought that would be the end of it all. But the pickles were really good. So instead of dodging the sales question, that first set of customers went straight to Carson and requested more. He was more than willing to oblige.

In October 2018, “Tasty Pickles by Carson” officially became a North Carolina Department of Agriculture small business. Debra’s kitchen became a state certified cannery. And remember how Carson was afraid of what others might think if he tried to get a job working for someone else? That fear disappeared as the soonto-be high school graduate became his own boss—a true entrepreneur—handling each and every executive and operational task with care, concern, passion, and purpose. Carson’s formula for finding customers is rooted in building relationships and providing personal service. He has reached out to no one, yet his vendors come to him with orders for pint and quart jars to stock their shelves. His pickles are in nine area Food Lions and nearly a dozen other small businesses. From his website, pickles have been shipped to 37 states and enjoyed in two countries. He numbers every jar. At last count he had sold more than 10,000 jars.

What’s next? He wants to go big. Near the back of his family’s Troutman home, a 14’ x 40’ outbuilding, complete with a commercial sized kitchen, is currently under construction. It’s already being called “The Pickle Factory.” And business-savvy Carson talks about growing his company into a privately held corporation. He envisions introducing a corporate structure complete with employees, officers, and a board of directors.

Before COVID hit, Carson had been invited to tour the Mt. Olive pickle facility and chat with its top executives. He made strides towards appearing on Shark Tank, but he‘s not sure he’s ready to accept a second invitation.

Carson typically works almost every day of the week. Behind the brine, the cucumbers, the commercial slicer, the jars, the thermometers, the pots and pans, and the timers, is a secret ingredient. That ingredient is love. Carson loves his responsibilities, his job, his company, and his customers. His brother Drew, 23, is paid to handle local deliveries and he loves that friends help and assist as needed. Debra oversees certain production steps.

And every jar of “Tasty Pickles by Carson” comes with a meaningful message, too. “I’m autistic and I started a company and I want people to know that they can do things like this, too,” he explains.

Visit www.tastypicklesbycarson.com. If you are interested in helping Carson reach the finish line of building and equipping his commercial kitchen, visit the GoFundMe page, “Pickle Factory for Carson by Debra Bailey Lester,” which is currently receiving contributions.