APPARENTLY, YOU really can find
anything on Craigslist. Just ask Mo
Hasan, Vanderbilt’s third-string
quarterback, who went looking for something to
help him in his mission to feed the hungry. He
found an old FedEx truck, which Hasan repainted
and repurposed by adding a lift-up service window
and some appliances. It now sits in his driveway,
just around the corner from Vanderbilt Stadium.
The Hunger ReliefMobile, as it’s called, is easy
to spot. It features the logo of his company, Second
Spoon—a pink spoon in the middle of a bright blue
circle—and across the bottom, there’s an outline of
the skyline of Miami, Hasan’s hometown.
On weekdays the senior is busy juggling classes,
working toward a degree in history and economics,
and his football commitments. But every Friday
he makes sure the Hunger ReliefMobile makes its
way to downtown Nashville, where it carries up to
300 plates of food for the homeless.
The idea for Second Spoon came in 2016, when
Hasan, then a freshman at Syracuse, saw how much
food was being thrown out from the dining hall.
“It was just jarring to me,” Hasan says. He rushed
home to do some research and was surprisedto find that up to 40% of food is wasted in this
country, according to the United States Department
of Agriculture. Hasan decided he wanted to do
something about it.
In 2018, Hasan formed Second Spoon, with the
idea that he could take some of that food he saw being
thrown out and get it to people who need it. With the
help of his childhood friend and high school teammate
Robert Burns, Hasan raised about $10,000 through
fund-raisers and auctions in Miami, money they put
toward the truck. They started at the University of
Miami, where Burns still runs the food operation, and
have continued at Vanderbilt, where Hasan transferred
in 2018, with more donations coming in through a
GoFundMe account. Second Spoon’s fund-raising goal
is now $25,000; they hope to expand to more colleges.
The operation is simple: Schools store and freeze
excess food every day of the week, and on Friday,
student-athlete volunteers gather to fix plates to
take on the FedEx truck. The food is nutritious, too.
Hasan read up on food banks and learned that most
of the meals served there are high in starch and
sugar. Second Spoon serves dishes containing grilled
chicken, steak and vegetables. “We place a premium
on serving healthy food,” Hasan says.
The feedback, Hasan says, has been very positive.
From the bonding experience he’s having with his
teammates and other Commodores athletes, to
seeing people dance and tell them their life stories
after receiving a free meal in downtown Nashville,
Hasan has become motivated to grow the company
even bigger.
“I have a passion for this kind of thing,” he says.
“It’s been an unbelievable experience, creating a team
and learning what works and what doesn’t.” ±A VANDERBILT QB IS HELPING
TO FEED THE HUNGRYKEEP ON
TRUCKING
22 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED | OCTOBER 21–28, 2019
SCORECARDREAL
MEALS
Hasan (above
right) saw an
opportunity
to help the
homeless
with the food
waste he saw
in dining halls.ERICA DUANE (HASAN); COURTESY OF SECOND SPOON (TRUCK)EATS: FOOD. DRINK. CULTURE. SPORTS.
BY LAKEN LITMAN