CLEVELAND — Every year there are a number of organizations who reach out to those in need during the holidays. One group walks the city to search for people who don’t know where to go and have no food to eat.
The goal of Cleveland Feeds The City is to make sure that everyone has a hot meal on Thanksgiving Day. And they’ll do just about anything to make it happen.
Ariana Rogers started Cleveland Feeds The City in 2010.
“We started off with about 75 people and every year it grows,” Rogers said. “I just love giving back, I love helping people, because you never know when you’re going to be in that person’s situation.”
With more than 100 volunteers from 10 independent organizations at this year’s event, the group had a mission to make sure they could help anyone who came through the doors.
The group doesn’t just provide food, but they collect non-perishable food items and clothing. Those who attend can then take a few things with them when they leave.
Many of those in need don’t always know where to go to get help, and that’s where the Street Team plays its role.
“Our street team is amazing because those are the people that we’re trying to reach. We love the people who hear about it, but we want to get to those who don’t hear about it because they’re always surprised,” said Rogers.
The team scours the city for hours to make sure that people know the event is happening.
“The Street Team is important because we’re actually doing the outreach in the community. (We’re) going to find the people who actually need this service today who didn’t know that it exists,” said Miesha Wilson, a member of the Street Team.
Once they find you, they feed you, clothe you and send you home with more than you came with.
And the outreach doesn’t stop there. Volunteers packed up their own cars, filled with more food and clothes. Those things were then taken to the City Mission and other shelters in the city with hopes of sending the message that “everyone is family.”
“There are a lot of people that don’t have that benefit of being with their family, and today we can be a source of family. I can be a brother, an uncle, a nephew, a cousin to somebody that may not have that family,” said DJ Steph Floss, a volunteer at the event since its inception.
Other volunteers also expressed the importance of helping others during the holidays.
“I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like not to have, and to have somebody take care of you. So I’m just repaying the service,” said Latoiya Jones, a second-year volunteer.
Today around 250 people came through the doors. Organizers hope next year there are many more.
“That’s why I do it. Out of the goodness of my heart. Not for the recognition, but just to bless somebody else,” said Rogers.
Jones added, “It should be bigger. It’s Cleveland Feeds The City. So I challenge every single organization in the city to rally together so we can feed the entire city with events like this one.”
And the event touches more than just those who get a free meal.
“My first year doing it, I actually cried. It was one of those things where you just look at other people’s situations and you figure out how thankful you are for everything that you have,” said Leylani Wilson, a volunteer for the past 4 years.
“It’s just one of those things where, if you don’t do it, who is going to?”