Feeding People, Building Community: How Tim Turner is Fighting Hunger Through Satisfeed

Tasha: [00:00:00] Good morning. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your nonprofit origin story?

Tim: Sure. Tasha, my name is Tim Turner. I’m Founder and Chief Hunger Fighter for Satisfeed. Satisfeed started as a shock, and by that I mean, my boys were playing fall baseball and in the fall of 2001 one of their teammates, I met his dad was running 25 food co-ops in southeast, southwest and South Central Atlanta.

And I looked at Chad and I said, food co-ops, we live in the bread basket of the world. Yeah. How is it possible that you’re, you’re fighting hunger? And he began to explain. And so I had my first distribution in a driving rainstorm. [00:01:00] In December of 2012, and that morphed into a mobile food pantry that lasted six months.

And then that morphed into a brown bag lunch program where we were serving, students during summer, vacation. And that morphed into a walk-in food pantry. And so in September of 18, we opened a walk-in food pantry and that was serving 40 families, two Saturdays a month with banana baskets full of food.

And at that time we were working out of 950 square feet with 19 refrigerators and freezers, and COVID hit. And we went from 40 families to Saturdays a month to 500 families a week. Wow. And 20,000 pounds of food. So you’re [00:02:00] looking at spring of 20, and here we are almost in the autumn of 25, and we’re still serving in excess of 400 families a week and 20,000 pounds of food.

Tasha: That’s wild. And I know you and I have talked for anybody who listens to this afterwards. You and I have chatted a few times. You are one of my biggest community cheerleaders of sharing, Hey, have you seen this? Hey, have you seen this? And I love it because it keeps me really sharp and like well connected into things that are all over the internet, which I love that you send me those.

Clips. What is your background before you jumped into nonprofit? What were you doing before 2013?

Tim: Well, I worked for 40 years and I retired and I was not a specialist in anything.

I retired. I didn’t get a gold watch, but [00:03:00] I then started feeding people. The impetus was, the mom died in the spring of 17 and on the way home. She died. She’s living in Ohio and we were living in Atlanta, so it was about a 500 mile drive. And so I was in the car with our oldest son, our middle daughter, and my wife and I turned around and I looked at her and I said, I’m done.

And I turned in my two weeks notice and retired on a Friday. And we fired the following Monday to feed people.

Tasha: That’s crazy. That’s awesome. Tim, I love your story that that was okay. So you and I have, you know, in all our back and forth, I don’t know if I’ve ever asked you this question, so I’m super excited to, but [00:04:00] what’s your favorite part of working in the social impact space?

Tim: That’s easy. My experience is that, a car would drive into the parking lot, slowly drive in, find a parking space, passenger side would open. And a seven, eight, 9-year-old child would hop out. Driver’s side would open, and mom would walk out and get out, and then they would walk down our sidewalk, which was the longest walk for any of our guests. They would slowly open the door, lean in. And ask, is this where we get food?

No.[00:05:00]

Yeah. I think , we don’t talk enough about, how challenging that walk is. Right. How challenging it is to ask

for help. Exactly. I described my vision to a good friend of mine. A while back, and I used the image of a lollipop and the lollipop. The stick is the sidewalk. And then as our guests come in, it’s our intention to serve them physically, financially, socially, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.

The only way we can do that. Is by establishing relationship. Yeah. And that’s what we do.

That’s fantastic. We

establish relationship and we build community.

Tasha: Absolutely. Right. And yes, food [00:06:00] is a critical part of this and obviously that’s probably the reason they maybe decide to show up, but the reason why they’re gonna continue to stay, the reason why, you know, those connections afterwards and that community.

That’s the reason why people will feel comfortable. That’s why they’ll talk about you out in the world. Right. Share about you. I know you had shared with me in the past how many volunteers have been involved with status feed and just, it’s wild, the commitment level you have from people in your network to go, oh, yeah, no, they’re out there and they’re really volunteering and getting involved.

Tim: The most wonderful time for me is when a guest hops out of their car and asks, how may I help? They’re there to pick up food, but they also feel [00:07:00] an angst, an itch, if you will, to help and to make a difference. And that’s when I know, that I’ve done the right thing.

Tasha: That’s great. And that’s such a kindness, a thing that you can give back to them for them to have, that, you know, reciprocal, finding a space for it to be reciprocal, right?

Tim: Mm-hmm.

Tasha: That’s fantastic. Now. I’ve got all the warm and fuzzies already from this conversation, Tim, because I always love hear you talk about your work. You’re so passionate about it. Challenges, and this is probably gonna get me you know, a little riled up, but instead on the opposite end, what do you find are some of the biggest challenges of, leading a nonprofit,

Tim: Letting go of the day to day. And entrusting operations [00:08:00] to my volunteers because as much as I want and need to compensate my staff, I don’t have the financial wherewithal to do that right now. Yeah. And I heard a story the other day that, pardon me, really brought it to reality for me. And he was talking about a nonprofit that the executive director was making six figures.

But the staff is all volunteers and trying to make a point that’s pretty upside down.

Yeah.

A man is [00:09:00] worthy of his hire. I understand that, but there’s more to it than just compensation.

Absolutely,

And I live it. I live it every day because

people come to me and we have discussions. They look at me and they say, Tim, your passion and compassion is palpable. We feel it. So you’ve got to keep doing this. And so that’s the stressor for me. I’m a grandfather of nine ranging in age from 21 to one [00:10:00] month. And.

So there’s that call.

Yeah.

And yet not only is the call from my grandchildren, but the call from the hungry. Absolutely. It doesn’t get quiet.

Tasha: It does not. For me personally, being in this sector, in this space, meeting, all these wonderful humans that decide that social impact is a calling, whether it’s in their retirement like yourself.

I’ve met a few other people who have done this as well. Or it’s, you know, calling from a very young age. No, I think I have a solution. I think I have something I could do here. They’re just the best people to surround themselves with. But you highlight something that’s so challenging is that.

Just because you have the passion, just because you have the drive, just because this feels like a calling does not mean that all the, you know, [00:11:00] financial stability, leadership, training, all of those different pieces aren’t necessarily part of. Just an automatic brought to the table. Right? And, if anything, the likelihood is a nonprofit that all of those pieces are not in place at all, and we’re all scrambling to make that happen, which is very different than in for-profits.

Tim: It’s interesting you say that because there was a time not too far back where I said out loud, but I was also speaking to myself that I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and that was so frustrating, because even though nonprofit is a legal designation. It’s still a business.

Yeah.[00:12:00]

And so the foundations of running a business don’t go away just because you’re now a nonprofit.

Tasha: Yeah. It’s still critical, right? It still has to make sense, sustainable sense. I think maybe that’s the thing where nonprofit fits a little bit different than a for-profit, right?

You try to make it sustainable. Sustainable for how much you can pay staff, sustainable for what you can do for impact, all of those pieces. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be one of those things where. Every staff member has to make back three x whatever their salary is. This is not the same as a for-profit, but man, you still have to think about it in that business way.

Right? So one of the other things I always like to ask and this is gonna be unique to ask you. What does peer support look like as a retired founder of a critical nonprofit you know, in your area? How do you learn? Where did you turn to get [00:13:00] the support you needed as you started this?

Tim: Well, pardon me? It started with, the gentleman that, I was introduced to, who was running the, food co-ops? Yeah. So fall of 2001, my first distribution was December of 2012. So in that 11 year period of time, I was meeting with Chad three or four times a year. Yeah. And just picking his brain and learning from him.

And, you know, finally taking the plunge. And then that led me to a relationship with the food bank. And then that led me to a relationship with the Community Foundation. And then that became a relationship with, the Gwinnett Coalition, which is a group of nonprofits. Throughout the [00:14:00] community that we live in, who came together, especially during COVID, to listen help and encourage each other.

And so, beyond local, it’s the community of nonprofit support organizations. Throughout the United States, and quite honestly throughout the world that, come online, and provide support in a variety of different ways. I would side story. Love it. I was sitting in the parking lot of an imaging center preparing to walk in for, an MRI.

And I was looking at my phone and nonprofit Hive popped up, and the more I read, the more I realized I [00:15:00] need to be involved. There was a button there, complete it and get involved. And that’s what I did. That was back in October. Let’s see, I’m coming up on October 25, so it was October 23.

Tasha: Yeah, I was gonna say, you were an early, early member and what was kind of cool for me at the beginning I knew everyone very personally, right?

Like everybody was joining. I knew them, right, they were joining because I knew them and they were really early days. So, yeah, I was gonna say. Your first call was in March of 2024, so you were in that first, but that was the first call. I think you actually joined earlier than that. And this is the challenge, right?

When you’re an in-house, very busy executive director, running around, making the time for peer networking for a connection to your own community,

Tim: right,

Tasha: is hard.

Tim: Totally agree. [00:16:00] Totally agree.

Tasha: Yeah, absolutely. So you’ve been a member for quite a while. I have loved our chats back and forth, and I really appreciate talking to founders often because I’m living the crazy, very similar, everything you’ve said has resonated especially about a feeling, a calling and then trying to figure out how to make it all work.

What have you gotten out of being a member of the nonprofit hub?

Tim: The chats themselves have been very eye-opening for me. They’ve been very relational. Let’s see, I remember my conversation with Sonya Sala or Sole. Yep. Leah Kral. My, conversation with Leah Kral was she had just finished the book.

It hadn’t been put out on the market yet. And she was, very encouraging and very enlightening. I had a, conversation with a gentleman out of Louisville, Kentucky his [00:17:00] job is, development campaigns. And so that’s what I like most about the Hive is the ability to, and I get the email on Sunday afternoons and I get the follow up email on Monday afternoons saying, come on Tim, you need to sign up to have a conversation.

And I do. Unless of course I have a situation where I can’t.

Yeah. But, beyond that, it’s a unique perspective because many times I am speaking with folks who work with nonprofits to provide products and services that help nonprofit leaders. Become better.

Tasha: Yeah. And

Tim: I truly enjoy it.

Tasha: It’s a cool group, right? And I think what’s interesting is that, we all come at [00:18:00] nonprofit from different angles. We have our own unique stories. We have our whys for why we like, why we continue to go, what a wild sector. That is somehow functioning on, you know, a shoestring budget, if that is even what we’re working with.

And we all still choose to keep showing up. Right. And, support within that community, I believe is, critical. We need to figure out how to, bolster each other up, especially in the current times, right? Things are not getting easier, like you noted, coming back to the beginning of this conversation.

From 40 families to over 400 families. That’s wild. And we need to acknowledge that the work is not getting easier and that we need to create our own supports. Because there’s no magic. There’s know wand waiver fairy Godmother coming for the sector.

Tim: Not only that, I was in a meeting yesterday, in a conversation yesterday, and the emphasis was on collaboration. [00:19:00] Yeah. And the silos, fiefdoms, whatever you wanna call ’em.

We want to help people. Yeah. And if we can help more people. And be more effective by collaborating then yeah, tear down the walls, kumbaya and let’s do something amazing. I love that.

Tasha: Yeah, let’s have that be the goal. What a great man. It’s like quotable quotes there, Tim, right at the end here. Now I always like to finish these out. How can people find you? How can they learn more about Satisfeed?

Tim: Satisfeed.org is our website.

Then satisfeedgwinnett is our Instagram and [00:20:00] Satisfeed is our Facebook. Then I have Satisfeed YouTube as well.

Tasha: Okay. That’s awesome. And you’re out there on LinkedIn usually responding to messages incredibly fast, so that’s always a good place to find you. Thank you so much for coming on and doing this with me.

First of all, love your mission. Love how you’re coming at this unique problem and, and just. People standing up like yourself and going, Hey, you know, I can do something. I can support. We all need to be surrounded by those people and we all need to be finding ways to support those who are ready to help.

Tim: Thank you, Tasha. I appreciate the opportunity. Absolutely.