Join us every First Saturday in West Oakland to meet our neighbors and gift hot meals
“From the City? The City is helping the Town?”
The gentleman on Martin Luther King Grand Avenue responded with surprise when I told him that we were from Oakland, but the hot chicken, baked beans and fresh veggies had been prepared by The City Eats kitchen in San Francisco.
Towards the beginning of the year, we shared that MVP Good People and friends had committed to volunteering to hand out hot meals every first Saturday. Over the last four months we’ve shown up at the same spot in West Oakland every first Saturday of the month. And we will be there again the next first Saturday.
We’d love to have you join us the next first Saturday of the month from 11 AM to 1 PM.
The City Eats has a link to our sign up page, or you can find the direct West Oakland sign up here.
Q: Do I have to sign up or can you just show up?
A: You can totally just show up and help, the sign up list just helps us know how many meals we should pick up. The most we think we have distributed is about 400, but that was because we had almost a dozen volunteers and Meals on One Wheels were with us, and they can cover serious distance!
We know the actual difference we make is minor when our fellow citizens really deserve so much more help. The greatest benefit, if I’m being honest has been my growth, and better connection to my neighbors. We’ve met new cool people and been made more and more aware of who is living right around the corner from us and what types of things they need: blankets, socks, and lots of sugar for their coffee!
On that last note, we recently started a coffee station. And I had to crack up pouring more and more packets of sugar into a new friends coffee, “more?” I asked after pouring in a 3rd pack of sugar.
“Are you kidding me?”, he said, “look at me, I’m skinny, they tried giving me a diet soda the other day, can you believe that?”
Currently we are setting up at 23rd and Brush Street where our new friend Jamaal has maintained small encampment but please check the sign up link just in case anything changes, that’s where we’ll post it.
I’d love to hear in the comments what you see happening in your neighborhood that is inspiring you!
Yours truly,
Team MVP (your friendly neighborhood creative agency & video production company)
Good People
