Meet Alex and Shené Scott of Lebanon

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex and Shené Scott. They, along with their team, shared their story with us below:

In 2001, Alex and Shené Scott committed their time and energy to serve their communities in youth ministry, as a firefighter and a teacher. Due to their passion for helping others and the life-altering events they experienced while performing their career responsibilities, they focused on volunteering to assist those individuals and families they met. In 2013, they, as well as their two children, experienced life-altering challenges within their family. Shené was strickened with severe food allergies, including gluten, peanuts, and tree nuts; Alex was experiencing issues with hypoglycemia. One child was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity and the other with Type 1 diabetes. After experiencing these obstacles within their family, helping through volunteering, donating monetarily, and collecting resources for people in need only quenched their thirst on a small scale. The Scotts felt a strong desire to do more and share what they had learned through their life changes. The desire to help others on a larger scale brought about the inception of Vine Branch Fellowship in 2019. With the help of friends, family, and relationships established over 20 years, the Scott family has been helping others. Vine Branch Fellowship was created to focus on fellowship, promoting healthy lifestyles, charitable giving, and education programs in the local and surrounding communities.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our road has not necessarily been rough, but it has experienced some challenges. This was not a journey we were familiar with, so we’ve had to seek a lot of education and training to prepare ourselves for our current roles. Funding the start of our organization stretched us financially, especially due to the number of resources required to impact children and adults in the areas of school and community gardening. One of our most significant challenges was finding a school or community organization to take a chance on our program. After that, it was convincing them that the program would enhance the educational experience for everyone involved.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Alex- 22 years with Nashville Fire Dept. (Fire Captain), and Shené- 13 years as a Certified Teacher, currently the VBF educator for installed school gardens. We are most proud of our impact on the community in each area of service we have chosen.

Pricing:

• Donations

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vinebranchfellowship.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vbfgardening4community/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VBFGardening4Community/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsprunPj0fkdCL9oSiJHAeg

Image Credits
Denise Wells