Four years ago, country music star Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley, helped create a free food store in Nashville, Tennessee. Their goal was to give families in need the ability to choose their own food in a place that felt like a normal store. They named it The Store.
四年前，乡村音乐明星布拉德·佩斯利和他的妻子、演员金伯利·威廉姆斯-佩斯利在田纳西州纳什维尔市帮助创建了一家免费食品店。他们的目标是让有需要的家庭能够在一个感觉像普通商店的地方自行挑选食物。他们把它命名为The Store。
The Store is a partnership with Nashville's Belmont University, where Paisley earned his degree.
The Store是纳什维尔市贝尔蒙特大学的合作伙伴，佩斯利在该校获得了他的学位。
The Store is turning into a free toy store ahead of the Christmas holiday. The event began Friday. For two days, chosen families could pick out new toys, video games, stuffed animals, makeup and other gifts.
圣诞节假期前，The Store将变成一家免费的玩具店。该活动于周五开始。在为期两天的时间里，被选中的家庭可以挑选新玩具、电子游戏、毛绒玩具、化妆品和其它礼物。
Paisley said, "The emotional aspect of being able to give your child something your child wanted versus just something to sort of get you through the holidays...that's such a load off the minds of somebody who maybe didn't think they were going to be able to do that."
佩斯利说：“能够给孩子一些他们想要的东西，而不仅仅是度过假期的东西的这种情感，对于那些可能认为自己无法做到这一点的人来说，这是他们思想上的沉重负担。”
Paisley and Williams-Paisley brought the idea of a free food store to Nashville after seeing a similar effort in California. The Store launched in early 2020. Its opening came just weeks after a powerful tornado hit the area and shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic made food access an urgent problem.
佩斯利和威廉姆斯-佩斯利在加利福尼亚州看到类似措施后，将免费食品店的想法带到了纳什维尔市。该店于2020年初开业。它刚好赶在一场强大的龙卷风袭击了该地区的几周后，也是新冠肺炎大流行开始前不久。新冠疫情使食品供应成为一个紧迫的问题。
The Store changed its methods to meet people's needs. It turned into a food delivery service for older people. It delivered one million meals in its first year of operation.
The Store转变了方式来满足人们的需求。它变成了为老年人提供的送餐服务。它在运营的第一年就送出了100万份餐食。
Along with the food store, Belmont University also offers additional services to families in need. They include financial education and music therapy.
除了这家食品店，贝尔蒙特大学还为有需要的家庭提供额外的服务。其中包括金融教育和音乐治疗。
"People come on hard times and we want this to be a safe, welcoming place for everybody, whether you're volunteering or whether you're needing the services," Williams-Paisley said. "It's just a community and we're all in it together."
威廉姆斯-佩斯利说：“人们在困难时期到来，我们希望这里对每个人来说都是一个安全、受欢迎的地方，无论你是在做志愿者还是需要服务。这只是一个社区，我们都在其中。”
For this year's toy store event, The Store received about 2,000 donated objects and raised $20,000. Volunteers and workers from Belmont University in Nashville spent hours opening and organizing all of the donated toys into different areas.
在今年的玩具商店活动中，The store收到了大约2000件捐赠物品，并筹集了20000美元。纳什维尔市贝尔蒙特大学的志愿者和工作人员花了几个小时将所有捐赠的玩具打开并整理到不同的区域。
Parents will be able to drop off their kids at a religious center nearby, where they can play and drink a hot chocolate. The adults can pick out gifts at the same time.
家长们可以把孩子送到附近的宗教中心，在那里他们可以玩耍并喝一杯巧克力热饮。与此同时成年人可以挑选礼物。
Paisley said Christmas is his favorite time of year. He said he might even visit The Store dressed as Santa Claus, the make-believe person who brings gifts for children on Christmas.
佩斯利说圣诞节是他一年中最喜欢的时间。他说，他甚至可能打扮成圣诞老人的样子去The Store，圣诞老人是一个在圣诞节给孩子们派送礼物的虚构人物。
"I live for this time of year," Paisley said. "Ever since we've had children and possibly even before, I kind of go all out."
佩斯利说：“我盼着每年的这个时候。自从我们有了孩子，甚至可能在此之前，我就有点不遗余力。”
I'm Gregory Stachel.
我是格雷戈里·施塔赫尔。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)