Written by Caroline Colvin

Niki Bishop is the Program Director at Metropolitan Ministries’ Impact Hub on Rossville Boulevard. The Impact Hub is a conglomerate for many different community resources all under one roof, giving help to those in need. 

Bishop manages the grocery store program at MetMin. Funded through a grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation, the store provides a wide variety of fresh food and essentials once a month to anyone who needs it, no questions asked. 

For those in need of food assistance, Bishop is there to help explain the process of the grocery store program and check them in before their visit. Even though there isn’t any exchange of money for the food, Bishop leads them in saying “Let’s go shopping!”

When the grocery store is open, Bishop’s voice can be heard joyfully guiding people through the store, a beacon of hope in what is often the hardest time in one’s life.

Her passion for helping others was sprouted in the late 1980s when Bishop and her family moved to Germany while their father was stationed there in the army. It was there, in a small pig farming community outside of the army base, where Bishop learned the value of kindness. 

With her mother and four sisters, separated from her father who lived on the base, Bishop lived in a small apartment above a grocery store.

“If it wasn’t for the little old ladies who ran the grocery store down below us, we probably would have starved,” Bishop said. “[In the morning] we would find on our doorstep when we opened the door fresh meat, fresh bread and vegetables, and things like that.”

In her current role, Bishop remembers the people in Germany that welcomed her family and helped them during a difficult time. For her, it was an early lesson of compassion and community. 

As the country comes off the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, families far and wide have felt the effects of a recovering economy, one that has made food insecurity a common struggle. 

“The goal of Metropolitan Ministries’ grocery store is to lower as many barriers as possible to food because that is one of the major problems in America these days,” Bishop said. The only requirements are that the food is provided once every 30 days, one per household. 

“We don’t care if you have a job or not, we don’t care if you are here in the country legally or not, we don’t report to government agencies,” she said. “Basically the gist of it is, if you need food, we have food, come and get the food.”

The Chattanooga Food Bank provides the vast majority of the food that the grocery store gives out, and Hayes Produce helps to provide eggs, fruits, and vegetables to supplement those items that the food bank might not have. 

While the grocery store program is intended for those who have a place to cook and transport the food they receive, MetMin also offers small “go-bags” of ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch foods for those experiencing homelessness or lack of transportation. 

Aside from Bishop, the grocery store program relies heavily on volunteers to help stock and take people through the store. 

“I have a dedicated small group of volunteers–those guys are awesome,” Bishop said. “They come in on Mondays and help put up the truck and stock the shelves and then we’re open Tuesday through Thursday, and then Friday is a day for cleaning to get ready for the next truck for the next week.”

Right now, Bishop said the program is in need of more volunteers. One Tuesday in November, the sign-in sheet for the store was full before the doors were even open. 

Between the first year of the store in 2022 and today, Bishop said the need has nearly doubled. “The need is just so great with inflation, rents are going up, bills are going up…but yet these workers, these people, their income remains the same and it’s difficult for them to supplement their food budgets.”

Additionally, the holiday season brings an even bigger need. With families being together and kids home from school, families need more food. During the summer, there is also an increase in need.

“When school starts back up it dwindles down a little bit, but then around Thanksgiving and Christmas, it just gets hectic again.”

Bishop said her time working at MetMin has changed her and her family, for the better. “It’s an actual family affair,” she said. Bishop’s sons, her husband, and her mother-in-law have all stepped in to help volunteer at the store.

“It has made us a lot happier and I think a lot of it has to do with that I feel like I’m being fulfilled in my line of work, that I have a purpose,” she said. “My children, through volunteering at MetMin have seen some of the more negative things that can happen in life and are a lot more grateful for the things they do have.”

35 years later, the kindness and sense of community that Bishop experienced in her four years living in Germany has been a driving force at the MetMin grocery store. With each person who walks through the door, who might be feeling completely drained of hope, Bishop is there to offer a smile and reassurance that it’s all going to be okay.

---

Meet the Storyteller