"Let’s have dinner and talk about death."

This is the invitation from Sherry Campbell and Welcome Home, the  beautiful nonrprofit devoted to caring for those Chattanoogans who are dying and have nowhere else to go.

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Sherry launched Welcome Home in 2015 as a nonprofit hospice for homeless Chattanoogans. It has beautifully evolved into a most beautiful community in Brainerd; we visited in 2024 for a birthday party for a cancer patient named Ronnie. Before Welcome Home, she'd had nowhere else to go.

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"You know the story about the Grinch whose heart shrinks three sizes too small?" she said that night. "I feel like mine has grown three sizes so large."

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Each year, Welcome Home also offers a Death Over Dinner experience. Believing that death and dying are taboo and frightening in our culture, Welcome Home sets a table — literally and metaphorically — for us to get a step closer together.

Let's have dinner together.

Let's talk about death together.

"It’s in our blood and bones," said Sherry last year "We know how to care for folks. But we’ve moved away from that. We’ve just forgotten. Now, we’re scared of it."

Reserve your seat here at Welcome Home's Death Over Dying on Thursday, August 20, from 5.30 to 7 pm at gorgeous Crabtree Farms.

"During this engaging event, we’ll share a delicious dinner together at Crabtree Farms and talk about a topic that society has deemed as taboo … but we aren’t scared," Welcome Home states.

"A host will be at each table to guide the discussion, and the food and fellowship is guaranteed to be excellent."

Reserve your spot here.

More than a decade ago, Sherry, a social worker, kept recognizing a dire need: sick people needing care with nowhere to go.

Yes, hospitals would professionally treat, but then discharge. If you're homeless with terminal cancer, where are you being discharged to?

"If you are living outdoors and dying," said Sherry, "there was no place for people to go."

To learn more or support Welcome Home, here's our story and their website.

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A very big congratulations to the Niel family. Tennessee Senator Bo Watson met Amanda and Chef Erik Niel at Easy Bistro, one of three Chattanooga restaurants they own, each awarded with a Michelin recognition, to present them with a Senate resolution honoring their work.

"This resolution will be preserved forever," said Sen. Watson, "marking not only their remarkable success but also Chattanooga's place as one of the South's premier culinary destinations."

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Are we? You know, one of the South's premier culinary destinations?

Is the Senator speaking in hyperbole, or is that an accurate statement of how far we've come as a food city?

I know my answer, but would love to hear yours.

Hope everyone's having a good week; it's back-to-school for so many. We're headed to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank's State of Hunger luncheon today; another senator — US Senator Bob Corker — is speaking. We'll report to you soon about the event.

This Sunday, we have an exclusive story on one of our region's top entrepreneurs, whose fabulous story just got even more fabulous. You'll love it, Food as a Verb family.

Until then, have a sweetly beautiful week.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.