Experiments in Accompaniment and Solidarity: 15 Years of Open Table Nashville
- Lindsey Krinks
- Jul 16, 2025
- 3 min read
When you begin to see the city from below, it changes you. When you spend your days kneeling in the dirt, climbing beneath underpasses, hiking along railroad tracks to meet the remarkable people our society has abandoned, something in you shifts.
At Open Table Nashville, we’ve spent the past fifteen years on the underside of Nashville—in the camps, alleys, jails, and slums. We’ve met the man trying to survive the winter in an old refrigerator box, the mother and her two children trying to survive the summer in a storage unit. We’ve met thousands of people with no safety nets to catch them when they fell; the people who build and clean our city but can’t afford to live here.
In a society where “the rich get richer and the poor get prison,” we believe that there’s enough for all to thrive. In a society where countless people are discarded into the living hell of homelessness, we advocate and organize with our friends so they don’t just have crumbs from the tables of plenty, but a place at the table. And when those tables are fixed on control, exploitation, and greed, we work with our friends to flip them over.
We’re guided by deep love, sacred grief, and the belief that our liberation is bound up in the liberation of others. Too many well-meaning responses to poverty are rooted in models of charity that are condescending, self-serving, and uphold the status quo. Instead of following this lead, we’ve worked to foster a community grounded in the principles of accompaniment and solidarity.
Accompaniment is the intentional practice of coming alongside others, not in the posture of someone who fixes or saves, but as one who shares the journey. Accompaniment means fostering relationships of respect and mutuality. It means laying down our notions of what someone else should do or who they should be. It means meeting them and embracing them where they are and being a consistent presence when the world is unraveling. This kind of radical friendship opens the door for belonging, healing, and growth, not just for those we accompany, but also for those of us who are willing to walk the path.
Sometimes, these relationships look like giving someone a safe ride to a winter shelter or ordering an out-of-state birth certificate. Other relationships look like campsite defenses, memorials, and move-ins. Even when we only interact with someone once, it’s always more than a transaction—it’s a chance to see each other as human beings worthy of care, time, and attention. It’s a chance to affirm that each person has power and possibility and that each person’s stories, losses, and hopes all matter.
At its best, Open Table Nashville is not just a nonprofit—it’s a way of being. It’s a way of creating communities that show up for each other. It’s a belief in the power of the human spirit; a belief that another world is not only possible, but is being created every time we choose compassion, justice, solidarity, and love.
Over the years, thousands of volunteers, interns, donors, staff members, and board members have flowed in and out of our organization. Each and every person who has accompanied us and our friends on the streets has been essential, has kept us going, and has taught us something. We are stronger, wiser, more intentional, and more caring because of every person who has participated in our work. Our independent advocacy voice is only possible because of the interdependence we’ve fostered in community.
None of this would be possible without supporters like you who have sustained our work from the start. In honor of our fifteenth anniversary, everything given during the month of July will be matched up to $15,000. Please consider joining us at the table by making a donation, sharing one of our posts, or helping wherever you can. We’re so grateful for the love and solidarity that surrounds us. Let’s keep journeying together!
