Aliyya Swaby Photo
Stanley Densmore said he knows homeless people who don’t feel comfortable with the long lines and crowds at soup kitchens, who are more likely to show up when the city is handing out food on the Green.
Densmore, who said he used to be homeless, was one of dozens who lined up adjacent Center Church on the Green Tuesday afternoon to pick up sandwiches, watermelon slices, pizza and water, donated by local businesses.
For the fourth year in a row, Jesse’s Homeless Outreach Project (J‑HOP) has provided food for homeless people during the soup kitchens’ annual two-week hiatus, with the help of local community organizations and agencies. The city’s Small Business Service Center joined J‑HOP Tuesday to facilitate food donations and volunteers.
“When the kitchen closes, I come out here,” Densmore said. He said he lives rent-free at Columbus House through its permanent supportive housing program. “I come out here to support everybody.”
Jesse Hardy (pictured above at left), who runs J‑HOP, said providing homeless services is a difficult job but that he can’t stand to see people go hungry.
“Back in the day [soup kitchens] would never go on vacation. They would always keep it open,” he said. “We fill the gap.” This year, J‑HOP fills that gap between July 3 and 18, with a “grand finale” Sunday.
Next month, the organization will provide food to compensate for Broadway Soup Kitchen’s hiatus, Hardy said.
Jackie James, director of the Small Business Service Center, rallied small business owners who participated in the center’s programs to give back to the city by volunteering time or food.
She easily convinced Patrick Robertson (pictured above at middle), who led everyone in a prayer before beginning to pass out food. The owner of a small construction company called PMBS Enterprise, Robertson sought out Small Business Academy’s Services that helped him land a contract on Alexion Pharmaceutical’s new headquarters downtown.
“I have a passion for always helping,” Robertson said. He brought his 11-year-old son and 9‑year-old daughter to volunteer with him Tuesday.
The morning’s heavy rain downgraded to a light sprinkling as dozens lined up on the Green to get their meals.
“People called and said, ‘Is it cancelled?’ I said, ‘Homelessness is not cancelled,’” said Marcy Lynn Jones (pictured), a J‑HOP organizer.
There are many gaps in the services available for the homeless, Jones said. “Homeless guys sometimes gain weight when they’re homeless,” because they have access primarily o simple carbohydrates such as bread and pasta.
But they need food that will “nourish them,” Jones said. J‑HOP sometimes serves wheat grass smoothies, donated by a vendor, and black rice “to clean them out. It’s a nice way to sneak black medicine on someone sick.” And people like variety. One day next week, Jones plans to haul four large woks to the Green to cook chicken stir fry.
Mike Smith, who is from Newhallville, grabbed a Subway’s sandwich and bottle of water. He said city organizations are “always giving everything out all the time…If you go hungry, it’s because you want to go hungry.”
One woman positioned a bag full of several Subway sandwiches behind her back, as she greeted Hardy and James.
“It’s for the morning,” she said sheepishly, when James asked her not to take any more.
“That’s OK,” Hardy told her. “If we have any left, we’ll give it to you.”
He has considered quitting J‑HOP and instead creating a “resource center” to uplift people “really trying to help themselves.”
“Some of the guys, they really need a break,” he said.He said he worries is he is “helping them but crippling them,” by providing them with handouts of food and clothing without changing their overall situations. “I’m not getting anywhere … I can’t keep doing this.” Hardy’s social-media friends have implored him online not to resign.