If WE Eat THEY Eat!

The second organization I chose was If We Eat They Eat an offshoot of We Rise Above the Streets. I think I saw it on a Facebook events feed. I was drawn to it for many reasons. One being that I was a recipient of federal welfare support at one point in my life. I know how difficult it is to feed yourself and your family. I also can imagine how sad it is to have to beg for food and how scary it is to not know where your next meal is coming from. While I was very young when I received WIC, I was older with a family when I went through a period where I wasn’t sure how I was going to afford groceries on a regular basis. Today I am able to afford food for my family and I don’t take that for granted.

Alamin Muhammad founded We Rise Above the Streets after he was able to pull himself out of homelessness. Throughout his struggle to improve his own conditions he never forgot the feeling of food and shelter insecurity.

“We...believe the way out of homelessness and helplessness begins in the mind. Our mission is to help physically with immediate needs like food and clothing. However, at the heart of all we do, our goal is to encourage and foster mental change in our city’s most disadvantaged population through education and life enrichment programs.”

You can learn more about We Rise Above the Streets at their website or Sandwich Saturdays as part of If WE Eat THEY Eat on Facebook.

The Set Up

In a small basement office a group of about 40 gather around tables. There is cheese, bread, sandwich bags, lunch meat, granola bars, bottled water, chips and more. Some volunteers wear t-shirts or name tags with We Rise Above the Streets identified on them. I sign in and provide a donation in the jar. I see two women with name tags at a table and head over. Betsy and Amy have done this before and like efficiency. Perfect! They tell me the hardest jobs are peeling the cheese wrappers off and opening the sandwich bags. They have preferences for the easiest sandwich bags to open and the cheese that isn’t packaged individually. They bring their own plastic gloves and direct me to a package of supplied ones to put some on. Once we have prepared by opening some cheese and bags, we get started.

Amy and Betsy have been doing this for awhile and talk about how much they enjoy doing it. The environment is friendly and loud as sandwiches are being made in an assembly line style. They chat as we make sandwiches and then are joined by another man who pitches in and later a mom whose baby is sitting quietly in her stroller watching the production. The conversation is light and friendly and we are efficient. One person lays out slices of bread, another tops each with a slice of cheese, and another person places a slice of meat on top of that, followed by another slice of bread. I place the completed sandwiches in a plastic baggie and seal it closed, then stack the baggies in the empty bag from the loaf of bread. Ten sandwiches per bag.

Another volunteer comes and picks up the filled bags and they are taken to a table across the small office where a group is assembling paper bag lunches. Sandwich, chips, granola bar. Once we have run out of supplies for part of the process we all stop and clean up. Someone tears the box tops for education off of the empty sandwich bag boxes, someone else pulls open extra sandwich fixings, wraps them up tight and delivers them to the refrigerator. Throughout the process additional volunteers are taking bins of completed lunches out to cars, coolers of bottled water are filled with ice, and other donated goods are placed in cars as well. Table clothes are shaken off and folded up to go to the distribution site.

Alamin pulls the group together and begins to thank everyone and welcomes the new volunteers. He is smiling and excited as he talks about what brought him to this point, where he grew up, how long he was homeless, where funding comes from, and more.

The most important point in his remarks is that “When we come together to support each other we are a community, no matter where we come from.” He speaks of the importance of eye contact. How when we are driving and come to a stop where someone is begging for money or food we look away. It makes us uncomfortable, so today he asks us to make eye contact and smile, to ask how someone’s day is, can mean the world to people.

Then another volunteer explains the logistics, don’t give anything to anyone until they open up the line. The line won’t open until we re all set up. Be cognizant of people walking in the area, watch for pedestrians, volunteers as well as those in need. He offers maps and answers to any questions before turning the floor back to Alamin. He leads the group in a chant of “If we eat they eat nobody deserves to be hungry!” Then the group files out to their vehicles to head to the distribution site.

We park in a litter strewn lot next to a bridge. There is a line of people waiting in the July heat. The line consists of a diverse array of people. Ethnicity, age, gender, those with physical limitations, some who appear to be battling addiction, and others. They all watch as volunteers set up folding tables, bring out bins of packed lunches, and lay out the plastic tablecloths from sandwich making on the ground and then cover them with donated clothing, books, and more. Donated undergarments are in baggies, labeled with size, personal hygiene items are available. Volunteers are placed at each spot to hand out items. Alamin gives those gathered directions about not taking anything but asking and someone will assist them. He addresses a man who would like a bottle of water before the line opens up and without waiting in it. He converses with others who have come for assistance. He smiles and thanks his volunteers and asks how everyone is doing. Facebook live is frequently utilized to share the work with another audience. Then the line opens up…

People are respectful and kind as they come through. A young girl, Katie, and her younger brother are volunteering today and they have put on gloves and are in charge of handing out doughnuts and other donated bakery items. Maybe 7 at the oldest she hands 1 or 2 pastries to each person who comes up to her and gives them a napkin along with the food. She takes her job so seriously she forgets to smile but she is paying attention as is her brother to those in need who have come out to ask for help. Even if to Katie it is just a doughnut you can see she is taking in the whole scene and slowly begins to make eye contact with those asking her for a pastry..

Extra volunteers take garbage bags and gloves, we are instructed to pick up any trash other than glass or needles. Informed that “we try to leave it cleaner than it was.” Cigarette butts, cigar wrappers, chip bags, candy wrappers and other litter is cleaned up. The bags are tied together and put to the side. While some are watching us, several move out of the way when we get to where they are so we can reach the debris. As I look around, I don’t see any garbage cans or other receptacles that people could have utilized in the area.

On the back of the shirts “I am called to help the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the hurting, the abused, the broken.”

Impact

I am estimating that we served over 100 people on this Saturday, maybe a few more. I was too busy to count. To me the greatest impact was on the volunteers. Those who smiled, talked to each person, cleaned up a little bit, and provided something more than a sandwich.

Personal View

I think of all the plastic bags I avoid getting at the grocery store and here they are so valuable. They allow each person to hold any food or belongings they get. They are a commodity on the streets. At the end of the bridge there is a little box strapped to the bridge as I go to pick up garbage I see it is a little free library filled with books. Such a positive sign at this intersection of life under a bridge.

My daughter texted me and asked me how it went. My response “I always learn something including my own level of empathy and discomfort.” You see I was a minority here. This is not the first time that has been the case, but each time it reminds me that I have so much to learn. I question why I am so uncomfortable. The signs of mental illness around me? The poverty? The hesitation to converse or draw attention in any way? Why do we get so uncomfortable with what we don’t know? I have yet to answer this.

One woman walked through the line looking lost but asking for different items she would like. She is pregnant. She is in need of a bath. She is gaunt in the face and appears to have signs of addiction. I wonder what life has been like for her. How did she get here. Where is she going? How will she eat tomorrow, where will she sleep? My questions are endless and yet I will not approach her so I will not get any answers. I know as well that I don’t deserve any. What right do I have to ask this woman about her life? I have always had food on the table, sometimes fabled “weiner water soup” other times courtesy of the Women, Infant, Children (WIC) social support program. But we ate.