Nourish Jax is a new club founded this year whose main focus is to feed low-income people and support victims of natural disasters and homelessness. Nourish Jax is also a chapter, a local branch of Feeding Northeast Florida, another nonprofit organization that has food banks across Jacksonville.
What inspired the founding of Nourish Jax was a research paper for the Global Scholar Program that Grace Miller ‘27 did on global hunger that helped her realize she wanted to help people dealing with this issue, especially because growing up she did not have to worry about that sort of thing.
“Global hunger, I realized that was a really important issue to me, and since I have really grown up not having to worry about that, personally, being able to learn about how much other people have to worry about…that really inspired me,” said Miller,who is president and founder of Nourish Jax.
Prior to this, Miller said she didn’t really think about global issues in general.
Miller said, “I just think a lot about how growing up l had so much in terms of being fortunate with not having to worry about that sort of thing.”
Through Feeding Northeast Florida, Nourish Jax was able to collaborate and become a chapter or branch in Jacksonville. Besides this collaboration, Miller hopes to reach out Feeding Northeast Florida as a way to gain the public’s eye and connect to more of Florida, to promote the club through different local news channels, and to focus more on awareness.
Recently, Nourish Jax had a candy and bake sale to raise money for low-income families and Hurricane Milton and Helene survivors, and they made over $450. Overall, the club sold many baked goods, like donuts, cupcakes, cookies, danishes and candy. They also had a stall at the recent Halloween Carnival hosted on the Upper School River Campus, where they gave free cotton candy to kids from the Sanctuary on 8th Street.
Fundraisers like these are essential to the club’s mission statement, the environment that the club creates is also a major benefactor when convincing people to join. Having a hospitable front is what nurtured Nourish Jax’s success.
“The main parts of being the Nourish Jacksonville because that’s what it’s made for and the environment, we’re the ones who are putting all that together and maintaining a welcoming environment” said Sree Alam ‘28, a club officer at Nourish Jax.
In fact, the mission statement for the club is “To partner with Feeding Northeast Florida to provide as many meals as possible for struggling kids and families in the Jacksonville area.”
Hospitality is what encourages both growth and participation in the club, allowing for them to focus on the central idea of charity and fighting hunger. “You have this amazing group of people to be with and you’re supporting a good cause,” said Alam.
She also believes the club’s main attraction is its mission: “Charity, as a main idea for our Club, is what attracts people, just the environment,” said Alam. As of now, Nourish Jax aims to hold one fundraiser per semester through either more food drives or bake sales. Furthermore, they want to go beyond just Jacksonville, and hopefully connect with other counties and cities in Florida.
In fact, there’s an upcoming competition that the club members are preparing to participate in called Youth America with people from ages five to twenty-five will look for ways to fight hunger at its root in their local communities, encouraging youth volunteering. The grand prize will be $2500 dollars, and Miller says that if Nourish Jax wins, she intends to donate the money to Feeding Northeast Florida or other local organizations.