BALTIMORE — As we head into the holiday season during a pandemic, food insecurity has families making tough choices.
A Baltimore non-profit wants you to know they have your back.
On Wednesday night, Bmore Community Food quickly transformed a sidewalk at 300 W. 24th Street into a full scale operation of hope.
“We’ve been coming here like 4 months now,” said Delia Robinso. “He helps everybody out with food. They take food to people that can’t come. He lets people pick up food for people that can’t come here.”
He is J.C Faulk with a group called an End to Ignorance.
The longtime community activist started Bmore Community Food out of his car at the start of the pandemic.
“When i was a kid man, my mother was a single parent mother of six children,” Faulk said. “My father died when I was five years old. He left us with my mother and she struggled to feed us I was hungry a lot when I was a little kid.”
According to recent reports, we found 40 percent of the food in America goes to waste.
Faulk found a way to catch the best stuff before it hits the dumpster.
“We have food that comes in from Amazon, we have food that comes in from H&S Bread, Motzi Bread, First Fruits Farm,” said Faulk.
They are essentially a food rescue organization.
“Most people think when you do that you’re getting worn out strawberries and bananas with spots on them and they are brown and everything,” Faulk said. “We’re getting really good organic produce.”
Around 240 cars with 25-40 pounds of food a car.
People sign up online and the cars wrap around the block, and the next block and the next.
“He’s helping out big time,” said Banti Davis. “You gotta a lot of senior citizens in this area who can’t get out. It’s good to have neighbors who can help out.
They do food giveaways outside their brick and mortar location twice a week, 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesday and Saturdays from 2:30-4:30 p.m.
They also bring food out to communities in Gilmor, McCulloch, and Douglas Homes and Greenmount West every week.
“This culture uses food sometimes to oppress people,” Faulk said. “You look at our neighborhoods, you go up to Sandtown where the uprising happened. There’s not one grocery store up there. How can that be true in America?”
With his team of volunteers by his side he anticipates distributing 2 million pounds of food this year.
“It turned out to be some of the best work I've ever done in my life to make sure people that are hungry get food,” said Faulk.
They won’t end hunger in Baltimore City.
But they will make sure that six days a week, people will have one less thing to worry about.
If you want to donate,volunteer, or sign up for food click here.
