Copyright WEAU
BELLEVUE, Tenn. (WTVF) - In the farming business, there are plenty of ups and downs. “We went four or five years without making a penny, and you know, we’re getting better at our craft,” Shaun Daugherty said. “We’re on a slow uptick, and like I said, with that blessing, I think I should help others whenever I can.” Before the family farm, S.E. Daugherty and Sons, became successful, Daugherty remembers barely getting by. “I remember working my way through college full time and buying fast-food and gas on a credit card just to survive,” Daugherty recalled. But then, someone invested in him when he needed it most. “A gentleman named Tom Bannen, who owned a Chevrolet dealership here in Nashville, and I worked at a place and he gave me $100 one time because he heard I was having a tough time with it,” Daugherty said. Now, after a successful season and more than 20 years after someone paid it forward to him, the farmer based near Bellevue, Tennessee, is returning the favor to families who are about to lose their SNAP benefits. “I don’t think as a community you wait on people that are in those positions to take care of you. I think you take care of each other,” Daugherty said. On Sunday, Daugherty’s farmstand will be giving away fresh food, no questions asked. “We’ve got greens and sweet potatoes. I’ve called in my apple guy, that I’m going to buy extra apples, and our bread supplier, I’m buying extra bread and stuff like that,” Daugherty said. Daugherty knows no one wants to struggle and believes that having a community as support can make all the difference. “You know the hope is, that someday, that you’re going to be able to do that for somebody else,” Daugherty added.
