This is a story about 5 friends who came together to make a difference in their community.
In March, as the impact of COVID-19 was disrupting life in Detroit, Melanie D’Evelyn, Godwin Ihentuge, Jeremy Lewis, Shelley Danner, and Sarah Craft jumped on a Zoom call to brainstorm ideas on how to support black and brown-owned businesses and how to help those most vulnerable in the city.
Within days, they founded "Pay It Forward: Power a Business & Feed the Homeless," a crowdfunding campaign with Patronicity to support Detroit restaurants owned and run by people of color by paying them to cater meals to homeless shelters in the city.
With an original goal to raise $10,000, news of the group’s intentions and the impact on both small businesses and people in need spread and they exceeded that goal in a matter of days. The group increased their goal as more donations came in and were able to raise more than $52,000 from an astounding 546 donors. This provided more than 7 weeks of daily meals to 4 homeless shelters, and helped keep more than 10 restaurants in business.
These are the restaurants and owners that were part of the program. If you are in Detroit, make sure you seek them out.
- Detroit Pepper Company’s Marlin Hughes
- Norma G’s Lester Gouvia
- Yum Village’s Godwin Ihentuge
- Terri's Cakes' Garnet T. Gullet
- T’Mos BBQ’s Tito Dotson
- Rincon Topical’s Lizaida Moreno
- Lucki's Cheesecakes' Rhonda Crenshaw Morris
- Table No. 2's Omar Mitchell
- Black and Mobile - delivery
