NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Sunday marked the 10th annual Kosher Nashville Hot Chicken and JAM Festival to celebrate Jewish arts, music, and hot chicken.

"The Gordon JCC loves hosting this event. It's great to bring community together, especially during hard times or fun times, and everyone's having a fun time here," Jesse Feld, executive director of the Gordon Jewish Community Center, told News 2.

This year, the Gordon JCC is also collecting food donations for people at risk of losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits amid the national government shutdown.

"We just teamed up with Second Harvest Food Bank to give people a place to bring food that we will get to them, so we're just supporting their mission to make sure people in Middle Tennessee have the things that they need, who are in need," Matt Leff, a festival organizer, said.

Nearly 700,000 Tennesseans rely on SNAP to have enough food to eat, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments starting Saturday, Nov. 1 because it said it could no longer keep funding the program due to the shutdown.

However, on Friday, Oct. 31, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to pay benefits using contingency funds. President Donald Trump indicated later that day he would fund SNAP if given “the appropriate legal direction.”

"We've always had a charitable element to the event, but the SNAP idea was brought up earlier in the week and it's a good idea and we backed it immediately," Evan Nahmias, a festival organizer, explained.

If you didn't make it out to the festival on Sunday, Nov. 2, you can visit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee or the Gordon JCC to drop off donations.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/gordon-jewish-community-center-collects-food-donations-for-families-at-risk-of-losing-snap-benefits/