At 24 years old I moved to Hollywood California. Being from a small town in Rhode Island, I wasn’t prepared for the homelessness and hunger in my new neighborhood.
Over the years I tried a number of different approaches and philosophies, but none of them ever felt right. There was always this tension that I just couldn’t resolve.
Then on April 8th, 2013 my friend Ashley suggested that we make sandwiches for people in the neighborhood.
The feeling I got from that experience changed me. That was the only approach that ever felt right to me – to proactively make food and give to people who were in need of something to eat and some love. I’ll never forget the feeling.
From time to time we would do this but it was a struggle to make it sustainable. I was always busy and always had expensive rent to pay.
Then in January of 2018 I organized a bowling night for my men’s group. I wasn’t certain how much it would cost per person so I asked everyone to round up and agreed to take the money to the grocery store to feed people in my neighborhood.
At first I was going to do it myself, but we ended up with $125! So on January 14th, 2018 I looked for volunteers on Facebook. Jamil Hai was the first to answer the call, followed by Jennell LaDue. Before we started making sandwiches we spent a few hours brainstorming how to make this something other than a well-meaning bandaid on a problem that would keep regenerating.
We couldn’t see the whole path but we were clear on the intent. So when we took meals to the street that night we decided that we weren’t giving handouts. We decided that we were the community taking care of itself.
We knew we had all the resources available for everyone to be cared for. It was just a matter of using creativity and determination to make it happen.
When we hit the streets that night we told people that we would be back and that there would be more of us. And we meant it. It felt good. Really good. And it still does.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this. It means a lot. <3