BALTIMORE — Many neighborhoods in Baltimore are called food deserts and they’ve become even drier since the coronavirus started.
On Tuesday Elijah Miles and his group of volunteers called the Tendea Family were in the Greenmount community delivering hope and help.
“Tendea family is Kiswahili slang for hustle,” said Miles. “Hustle is our founding principals. Honor, unity, sacrifice, trust, love, effort.”
The family name is literal and symbolic.
Chekesha Brown is Miles’ older sister.
She and her family have committed their free time to volunteer.
“He truly has an idea and starts it with his own personal cash,” said Brown. “As soon as he puts the word out the community comes together to step in. My husband, myself, my children, my son. Little brother calls, we come running.”
When the coronavirus hit—- families already living in poverty felt it on many levels.
“A lot of people have lost everything because of this coronavirus,” Miles said. “People have been laid off, cutoff from food stamps from unemployment. We out here giving them grocery so they don’t have to do anything illegal to feed their families.”
Tendea Family has been helping for years.
They saw neighbors in need of food a few weeks ago and started delivering it to them.
“This pandemic has really made it hard on people,” Brown said. "I know when I deliver I just feel so good. I feel so good. When you see people you are truly helping it’s like why I haven’t I been out here. It just feels so good to something for other people.”
With smiles on their hearts and warmth in their hearts they opened a free pop up grocery pick and donated dozens of bags of food on Tuesday.
“We’re going to basically serve our community as long as we have the resources to do it, until this whole thing is over,” Davis said. “Right now we don’t want our communities to erupt in riots or looting or stealing or robbing. That’s a realistic thing that could happen.”
You can help by donating or get help by searching for on any social media platform for Tendea Family.
Here’s a link to their Facebook.
