Seeing the Unseen: The Mission of Hunger Now

David Scott, founder of 86 Hunger Now, knows firsthand what it means to be part of the working poor. The nonprofit, which provides chef-prepared meals to working individuals and families who don’t qualify for traditional food assistance, is a deeply personal endeavor for Scott, shaped by his own experience with food insecurity as a child in one of Ohio’s most financially disadvantaged neighborhoods.

“I was born in a really sad, poor part of Ohio,” Scott said. “But it turned me into this guy that can make something out of nothing.”

That early training came not in a professional kitchen, but at home, out of necessity. With a mother battling addiction and two younger siblings to care for, Scott taught himself to cook using whatever he could buy with the food stamps he took from his mother’s purse.

“I was kind of forced into being a cook at a very young age, Scott said. “It wasn’t like I chose it – it chose me.”

He carried that ingenuity and work ethic into adulthood, launching a successful career in hospitality. While still in culinary school in his early 20s, he applied for a waiter position at a new restaurant.

“They said they were fully staffed, but called me back for friends and family night,” he recalled. “In three months, I was the assistant manager. In six months, I was the general manager, all while I was still in school. I just had a knack for it, and I love seeing people happy.”

Scott moved up the ranks in the culinary world, working for many years in Manhattan before the COVID lockdown effectively shut down the city, and he could no longer afford to pay his rent. He had visited North Carolina on numerous occasions and enjoyed it, so he and his husband decided to make the move south.

Scott started volunteering for Weekend Meals on Wheels shortly after arriving in Wilmington, and it wasn’t long before he realized just how many people in the area were facing food insecurity but didn’t qualify for traditional assistance.

“I was helping provide food for a neighbor who was going through cancer treatment and struggling to make ends meet,” Scott said. “She didn’t qualify for food stamps; she didn’t qualify for Meals on Wheels. She was in a weird in-between place, and that happens a lot.”

Before long, Scott was receiving requests for meals from more and more people in similar situations, and he and his husband began cooking from their home kitchen on the weekends in an attempt to help.

“I always ask people, ‘When was the last time you made Thanksgiving dinner for 25 people?’ Now imagine doing that every weekend. That’s what our life looked like.”

As Scott grew more and more committed to serving the working poor, it became clear the operation needed structure and a name. Scott landed on 86 Hunger Now, drawing from the restaurant term “86,” which means an item is out and must be removed from the menu. The message behind the name is clear: strike out hunger for those living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to put food on the table.

In August 2024, two years after Scott began making meals in his home, 86 Hunger Now (86hungernow.org) became an official nonprofit. Since then, it has served over 20,000 meals.

“We’re trying to love people with food,” Scott said. “I completely understand what it’s like to go without something to eat. I would say two years out of four in high school, no one really figured out to sign me up for free or reduced lunch. I remember sitting in an auditorium when everyone else ate lunch, and you have to ask yourself, ‘Why did no one see me?’ So I’m just trying to see people.”

The organization operates out of Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church, where a team of about 50 active volunteers help prep and cook meals every Saturday for delivery.

“These aren’t just Christmas volunteers,” Scott said with pride. “They show up. We’re organized. We know what we’re doing.”

Meals are delivered to recipients’ doors, not as a gesture of luxury, but as a practical solution.

“We serve working people,” he explained. “They’re not at home Saturday at 1 p.m., they’re working; they are the people our society depends on.”

The program is designed for those who fall into what Scott calls “the danger zone”: people earning just enough to not have benefits such as SNAP or Medicaid but still not making enough to live comfortably.

“We are serving teachers, nurse aides, first responders,” Scott said. “The people who are caring for our loved ones every day in this community. How do we expect them to care for us when they’re hungry and stressed out over how to pay their bills?”

Each meal costs roughly $8 per person, factoring in food, transportation, storage and logistics.

“We’re on a go-kart budget running a Cadillac program,” Scott laughed. “But I’m proud of that. I’m proud that we’re serving gourmet-style meals.”

86 Hunger Now has no paid staff, Scott included.

“I didn’t start this to create a job for myself,” he said. “Will I eventually pay myself? Sure. But right now, I’d rather feed people.”

Currently, 86 Hunger Now serves 109 active clients, with 190 more on a waiting list. An emergency one-time meal program also exists, no questions asked, for families in crisis.

Rather than stockpiling random donations, which can be hard to create meals from, Scott creates a menu each week and posts the needed ingredients. Donors have the option of dropping off the requested food or making monetary donations. This model allows him to request specific product donations, both perishable and nonperishable, and provide a delicious meal that clients can look forward to.

“They deserve to be blessed with some beautiful food,” Scott said.

Outside the 86 Hunger Now kitchen, Scott teaches cooking classes at Little Olive Co.

“I’m teaching pierogies, pickling, ravioli, that type of thing, and the connections I make there often lead to new donors, new volunteers,” he said.

This October, Scott will be testing a new pop-up concept, Babushka, at the Concept Kitchen at End of Days Distillery. It will run Oct. 8 -12 and feature classic Eastern European comfort food like stuffed cabbage and pierogi. The first night will be “pay what you can,” with all proceeds benefiting 86 Hunger Now.

In November, he’ll co-host a Taste of Poland and Ukraine festival at Waterline Brewery, bringing together food, music, culture, and community.

While Scott’s daily schedule is complex, his mission is simple: to see people.

“Maybe we’re not solving world hunger,” he said, “but we are making one person’s day better, one meal at a time. If that gives them the energy to love their kids more, love their life more, then we’ve done our job.”