On December 13th, it was about 25 degrees outside when Nashvillians lined up for the annual Feed the Need distribution. Among them was Armistead.
The boxes that day held familiar holiday staples — turkeys, green beans, and boxed stuffing — and dairy, eggs, and shelf-stable pantry items to help families get through the season.
Just three months earlier, Armistead arrived back in Nashville from Houston. He felt compelled to return to Middle Tennessee. He had gone to school here and had family here. That family had since passed. He had lost three brothers and two sisters, all here in the city he still calls home.
With no place to stay, Armistead slept in his car. He can still hear the rain hitting the roof of his car when he lies in bed at night.
“I slept in that car for almost three and a half months,” he said.
The strain took a toll on his health. His legs began to swell badly, and a visit to the hospital led to medication meant to reduce the fluid. But without a stable place to rest, the swelling never fully went down. Compounding it all, Armistead was still recovering from a hip replacement, his cane never far from reach.
“I never thought I’d end up back in Nashville like this,” he said. “Nashville is my home. I just never thought I’d be homeless here.”
Armistead is 82 years old and holds two degrees from Tennessee State University. When people ask how someone with his background ended up without housing, his answer is simple.
“How did the man end up blind?” he said. “He was born that way. Sometimes things just happen.”
Eventually, he reached out to the pastor at the church hosting today’s distribution. That call changed everything. Through the church and community connections, Armistead was able to move into assisted living. He received clothing, support, and, most importantly, stability.
You see, back when Armistead lived in Houston, he would send monthly checks to the church here in Nashville. To repay his years of compassion, the church offered to pay for his rent.
Life at Schrader Lane has brought small but meaningful moments of kindness. While helping in the community garden one day, a woman noticed the bed he had been sleeping on — a worn mattress that Armistead had reinforced with a wooden board to keep it from sinking. Without hesitation, she offered to help.
“She said, ‘Sir, you need a bed, not a board,’” Armistead recalled.
That Saturday, she took him to a mattress store and bought him a new bed. “I had never seen her before in my life,” he said. “She paid $1,000 for that bed. I was just thankful I wasn’t sleeping on that hard mattress anymore.”
At 82 years old, Armistead doesn’t need much to get his daily needs met. Instead of asking for less, Armistead keeps others in mind.
“A lot of people don’t have cars,” Armistead said. “Car notes are running $700 a month. But people have to eat first.” Without a car, it can be hard to get to the grocery store or distributions like this one.
For him, food is not something to be hoarded. It’s something to be shared. After the distribution, Armistead plans to give a portion of what he receives to people experiencing homelessness in the South Nashville neighborhood where he grew up.
“When you’re hungry, it doesn’t matter what color you are or where you’re from,” he said. “When you’re hungry, you’re hungry.”
Armistead’s life has spanned decades of service. He marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and later worked at Fort Campbell with the 101st Airborne, teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to soldiers. He saw Second Harvest’s work there, supporting military families long before he ever imagined standing in line himself.
“I never thought I’d be here,” he said. “I had degrees. I had jobs. But you get a blessing so you can take that blessing to somebody else.”
For Armistead, the box of food he receives today represents the chance for him to keep giving back — even now. Even after all he has lived through, lost, and already given back.
“I’m just a steward,” he said. “A doorkeeper. That’s about all I can do. And I’m thankful I can still do that.”