For the last four-plus years, Chef Hank Reid has — under the auspices of Lettum Eat, his mobile food distribution organization — provided more than 150,000 nourishing meals from the food insufficient in Gwinnett County.
Reid, who earlier this year received the John Merrill Award from the Lawrenceville Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association, plans a major pivot in 2024, although the nonprofit will not waver in its mission to feed the hungry.
After purchasing three modular classroom trailers from the Gwinnett County School District, Reid will seek to place the trio of buildings in strategic parts of the county to streamline the process. He said he’s about 70% done with the prototype trailer (which he calls the Modular Production Kitchen) that will be located at the Nett Church in Norcross.
Credit: Made Architecture & Design.
Credit: Made Architecture & Design.
“We’re in that phase where we have partnered with churches and other organizations and utilized their kitchen facilities to help share what we do in the community in regards to meal outreach,” said Reid. “I wanted to get into a phase where we could be a little more independent with what we do.
“So I had this idea about a year and a half ago to use trailers … I’ve been working with an architectural firm and I had an idea about flow in the kitchen so we can continue doing what we’ve been doing. They designed a nice kitchen space for us. We started building out about six months ago.”
Reid said he hoped to partner with churches in food desert areas to locate the other two prefabricated modular trailers when they are re-designed. But first Reid needs funding to finish with the prototype — he’s spent about $140,000 and still needs $60,000 to complete the project. He expects it will take at least $200,000 each to compete the three-trailer job.
“We’re looking to partner with organizations in the community,” he said. “The churches can maintain the spaces they have, but they have parking lots, so they have the space. They’re already in the community and already oriented towards outreach, so I thought it would be a better way for us to partner so we could have our own space.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
“We want to make sure we’re in food deserts, somewhere we know there’s a need, so we can launch our services from these MPKs.”
The prototype Modular Production Kitchen should be completed in late January.
Reid established Lettum Eat in 2019 to provide fresh meals in Gwinnett County. In 2020, Lettum Eat served more than 85,000 free meals, followed by 75,000 in 2021 and 35,000 in 2022.
In addition to the food-truck feeding tours, where hot meals are brought to lower-income communities, Lettum Eat offers some 800 prepackaged frozen meals a week that are distributed through five branches of the Gwinnett County Public Library.
The hunger relief organization is presently working on a collaboration with Snellville Community Church to utilize its facilities to establish a meal distribution hub in the southern portion of the county. A longtime veteran of the service industry, Reid is content in his work and hopes he can convince younger food-service workers to envision a career in community service.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I’ve been in the restaurant industry for more than 35 years and when we get a little older, we look to how we finish. The industry is different now but it’s always been challenging when we get a little older, so I feel what I am is a new form of chef.
“I want young professionals interested in the business to think about doing this as a career and not wait until they’re in their 50s, but to intentionally set out to serve quality meals to people in their community. We go about it a little differently — we serve with empathy and compassion.”
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
Credit: Gwinnett Daily Post
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