Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhonda Callahan.
Hi Rhonda, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Rhonda Callahan and I am a co-founder and executive director for two nonprofit organizations, The Torch and Torch 180.
The Torch is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. I, Rhonda Callahan and a team of volunteers, in partnership with Trader Joe’s utilize a catering truck to provide free groceries to people in need. We receive hundreds of pounds of groceries from Trader Joe’s each week. A team of volunteers pick up the groceries, bring them to our facility, sort them, and put them on our catering truck for people to shop from for free every Wednesday afternoon. In the spring, summer and fall, the catering truck is driven into different neighborhoods where people can shop for groceries. Another group of volunteers from a local church picks up bags of groceries from our facility and delivers them to homes in a local neighborhood where there are a lot of food-insecure individuals and families..
Torch 180 is also a tax-exempt 501(c) nonprofit organization. Through Torch 180, since 2016, we train individuals who have disabilities in food safety, culinary and employability skills to help them find employment in the foodservice industry. We recently entered a partnership with Lake Trust which allowed us to acquire another building. In this building we built a retail store and are training individuals who have disadvantages for employment in the retail industry.
The Story Behind The Torch
In 2010, I was forced to flee an abusive marriage with my 15-year-old daughter, Maddy. We had nowhere to go, and we ended up homeless for nine long months. I was a self-sufficient person and had always lived a safe, middle-class life. I never imagined I would experience homelessness, yet there I found myself with literally nowhere to live and almost no income. I began approaching local agencies and people for help. I was treated so poorly that I started feeling like I was nothing more than a drag and leach on society.
I realized the system was broken and could understand how people could get stuck feeling worthless and believing they have nothing of value to offer to the world. Quite often, after I spoke with someone from whom I was seeking help, I ended up feeling humiliated and crushed and leaving without help or hope. The insinuation was that I had left the marriage, so I had caused my situation, and, therefore, if I did get help, I really didn’t deserve it. There was also a feeling that somehow I was trying to cheat honest hardworking people out of their paychecks. The reality for me was I was working as a program assistant at a local high school and had only recently completed a master’s degree. I was trying to find a job (in a very high-unemployment environment), and the abuse at home escalated; we left before I had found better paying job. I wasn’t unwilling to work, there just wasn’t work available to me.
During the time I was homeless, there were a couple of things I knew. One was that, when things got better, I wanted to do something that would impact how people in need are treated and served, and the other was that I knew I would do something with food. I wanted people to realize that I value them and knew I could build relationships with them if my organization was feeding them.
As things got better for me, I continued to think about what I might do to help people in need. I considered trying to find a building in which we could build our own kitchen and serve free meals to people, but we encountered so many obstacles, we decided we would have to rethink what we were doing. After a conversation with a cofounder and volunteer, we decided we would get a food truck. I wanted to call the organization “The Torch” because people look for light when they are in darkness, and I wanted to be that light. The Torch was incorporated in September, 2012, and, in October of 2012, we applied for a 501(c)3 tax exempt designation.
I was advised it was an arduous process and that I should expect it to take around three years and many revisions of our plan to get approved. The team figured we would use that time to get ourselves organized, find a food truck and every other thing we figured we would have to do. We were incredibly surprised when we received approval one month later – in November of 2012! We launched a website and, through a series of miraculous events, had a food truck in October of 2013. We launched it on the roads in April of 2014.
The COVID shut down during 2020 caused us to rethink and change our strategy. We no longer cooked free meals, as the families and individuals we helped were indicating a greater need for groceries. The Torch entered a partnership with Trader Joe’s in 2021, and, we began distributing hundreds of pounds of groceries each week to our food-insecure population. As of 2026, we have served nearly 400,000 free meals in the form of meals and groceries. We accept everyone who comes to the truck without judgment or condemnation. They don’t have to prove they are in need, and they don’t have to try to explain why they are in whatever situation they are in. We try to love them and make sure they know they matter in our world. We have seen single moms’ support groups form, people going back to school, and others looking for work again after having given up.
The Torch is run 100% by volunteers. Every dollar that is donated to The Torch is put right into the organization and is used to help us keep feeding people. There is a lot of information about us available at our website: www.mobiletorch.org
The Story Behind Torch 180
When we were out with the food truck, we spent a lot of time getting to know the people in the neighborhoods. One thing we noticed was that a large number of people who have disabilities live in these neighborhoods, in poverty. We wanted to try to impact those lives and started talking about what we might be able to do to help this underserved population. I decided to utilize my 25+ years’ experience working with people who have disabilities to try and help those individuals. In January of 2015, we launched “Torch 180”. The mission of Torch 180 is to train individuals who have disabilities in food safety, culinary and employability skills for work in the foodservice and customer service, cashiering, pricing, stocking and other skills for the retail industry.
We borrowed a kitchen in a church in the spring of 2016 and taught our first two students. They are both currently employed. We taught 42 students in a variety of borrowed kitchens, and realized that, in order to give the students real-life training, we needed a real-life setting. In the fall of 2018, we purchased a building to house a cafe, coffee bar, classroom and training kitchen. We are in a partnership with the Michigan Career and Technical Institute out of Plainwell, Michigan. We are their first culinary satellite site and are accredited through the Council on Occupational Education.
There is more information available at our website: www.torch180.org
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
One of the biggest challenges we faced was during COVID. We purchased our building in 2018, and renovated it into a cafe and coffee bar. We received our occupancy permit in February of 2020, and brought in our first group of fifteen students. We planned a grand opening for April 11, 2020, but were completely shut down in March. We put our Torch 180 goals on the back burner and switched to The Torch, providing groceries and meals to families in which there were children and teens who would not be received their free and reduced breakfasts and lunches during the shut down. The rest of the year, and into 2021, we opened and shut as the health department allowed. We finally were able to get fully opened in the late spring of 2021.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am the executive director for The Torch and Torch 180. I founded and developed both programs into what they are today. Torch 180 is the first satellite training site for the Michigan Career and Technical Institute, and I wrote the first cook and barista registered apprenticeships. I also opened a retail store in downtown Fowlerville in which students are being trained for work in the retail industry. We are set apart from others by the fact that our training is done in real businesses with real customers, challenges, and consequences. This prepares our students for the work world in realistic ways and sets them up for success.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I have learned not to be scared to try new things, and to bring others in on the journey with me. Everything is so much better when we work together.
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Facebook: /torch180, /mobiletorch
