By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last Sunday, Dope Culture LLC, in collaboration with the Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Institute, the CD Forum, Africatown, and a host of other community partners, held a community feeding event where they served soul food meals to the underserved, homeless, and those suffering from food insecurities.
The event featured restaurants and chefs from throughout the region who all donated their time and energy to serve others. The menu included soul food classics like black-eyed peas, string beans, candied yams, spaghetti, fried chicken, mac and cheese and greens prepared and provided by Ezell’s Fried Chicken, Soul Fusion, Dz Wings and Thingz, Big Dawgs, and served by a group of amazing cooks and volunteers.
In addition, there was a DJ, live music performances, and cold weather and poverty packs were distributed to individuals in need. According to Anthony Tibbs, CEO of Dope Culture LLC, the plan for the event was to feed anyone who wanted and/or needed a hot meal, needed a moment of warmth from the elements, and to enjoy a little soul music in the process.
“All of it was free with no judgment or shame,” said Tibbs. “We all ate together and enjoyed the music, nothing but love, it felt good.”
According to the USDA, more than 34 million people, including 9 million children, in the United States are food insecure. The pandemic has increased food insecurity among families with children and communities of color, who already faced hunger at much higher rates before the pandemic. Every community in the country is home to families who face hunger, and many households that experience food insecurities do not qualify for federal nutrition programs like SNAP and visit their local food banks and other food programs for extra support.
Hunger in African American, Latino, and Native American communities is higher because of systemic racial injustices. To achieve a hunger-free America, communities across the country must address the root causes of hunger, structural and systemic inequities, with group and individual efforts.
Locally, Dope Culture LLC and its community partners have taken it upon themselves to fill that void.
“I was brought up watching my father do things like this,” Tibbs recalls. “He used to run the kitchen at the Randolph Carter Center on 23rd and Yesler. Before he would go home at the end of his workday, he would give the rest of the food to the homeless and whoever needed a hot meal. Today, I pray I made Forest and Ernestine Tibbs proud.”
