Crowded Table

Sustaining Belmont’s Foster families

When foster families receive practical, predictable, and consistent support their retention rate jumps to 90%. In an effort to sustain the foster families in the Belmont University community, Belmont is partnering with Crowded Table to create wraparound care style support teams. These Teams consist of 8 to 10 Belmont University community members who commit to provide support services during the fall and spring semesters for two consecutive school years. 

Team Volunteer Roles

Every Table Team has two specific roles: Team Leaders and Team Members. 

Team Leader (1 to 2): The Team Leader serves as the liaison between the foster family and the volunteer team by communicating weekly with the foster family as well as scheduling and coordinating the logistics of volunteer support services at least a month in advance. 

Team Member (7 or 8): The Team Member offers practical support for the foster family by regularly providing services to the family at least once every four weeks as well as communicating with the Table Team Leader.

Support Services

All support services will be provided on Belmont's campus. Leveraging our shared location to streamline support and ensure longevity of volunteer Table Teams. At this time, support services will be limited to the following:

• Meals
• Groceries
• Gift Cards
• Seasonal Support: Winter clothes, Christmas gifts, Summertime preparations 

In 2019 my wife Sara and I said yes to care for three foster children for one weekend. Eighteen months, two Christmases and one pandemic later, those foster children finally moved to a permanent placement. During their time with us, those kids learned to ride bikes, tie their shoes, went to their first movie, consistently attended school for the longest period in their lives, and the eldest got a job that paid more than he’d ever dreamed. Even though we had not planned on caring for two teenage boys and their little sister, and even though they had a revolving door of caseworkers from the Department of Children Services, today those three kids are a foster-care success story. How did it happen? Short answer: the support of friends and faith communities. People from Nashville churches as well as a network of friends brought us meals, donated bikes, connected therapists and foster care support organizations, fundraised for counseling, provided mentoring, and that’s just scratching the surface. One friend sent us Costco goodies on a monthly basis - for over a year! Were it not for the sustained tangible support of that community, we would have burned out and given up long before our three foster kids received a permanent placement. I don’t remember when it happened. At some point we started to wonder, what if every foster family in Nashville had a community of support like ours? I wondered, could we scale this support by pairing all the churches in Nashville with a foster family? And just like that, the seeds of Crowded Table were firmly planted. Crowded Table's mission is to equip local churches to provide practical support to Davidson County foster families and their caseworkers, in order to increase and sustain the network of people who care for foster children in Middle Tennessee. As of the fall of 2025, Crowded Table has launched Table Teams at 15 local churches from a diversity of denominations.

Tennessee ranks among the poorest performing states when it comes to foster parent retention. When foster families receive relational support, their retention rate jumps to 90%. Nashville has more churches that foster families. Crowded Table seeks to pair every church in Davidson county with a foster family in order to respond to the foster care crisis in Middle Tennessee. Crowded Table equips local churches to provide practical support to Davidson County foster families and their caseworkers, in order to increase and sustain the network of people who care for foster children in Middle Tennessee.

Go to our website to learn more.