Black-owned restaurants get boost from program feeding Detroit neighborhoods

PLEASANT RIDGE, Mich. – There’s a movement underway in Detroit to help feed the needy.

The initiative started after local restaurants had to shut down due to COVID-19.

June 24, 2020 update: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 61,953, Death toll now at 5,868

The initiative is all about paying it forward and they’re doing just that by feeding families in the city of Detroit.

RELATED: Push to support Black-owned businesses intensifies amid Black Lives Matter movement, Juneteenth

At the beginning of the stay-at-home order, the Detroit Homeless Shelter and the Neighborhood Service Organization put out a call for help to feed its residents.

That call was answered by a group of minority-owned restaurants who quickly jumped in to start feeling families. They said it’s overwhelming how many donations they’ve received.

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Over the past two months, the campaign has grown. The group raised nearly $55,000 and they’re now feeding meals to folks in four different homeless shelters .

Grateful and inspired -- the campaign’s five original founders all live and work in the city of Detroit. They felt compelled to do something beyond their day jobs to to give back during a difficult time.

The campaign now supporting Black and brown-owned Detroit area restaurants, ordering catered meals to feed those in need. They’re feeding about 100 people five days a week.

RELATED: New app supports Black-owned restaurants in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia

In addition to the homeless at the neighborhood service organization, the campaign is now also helping at risk girls and women.

Here are three ways you can help right now:

1) The Pay It Forward team has created The Detroit Map of Black-owned Restaurants to help make it easy to locate and support black-owned Detroit neighborhood restaurants right now.

Using this map, you can:

  1. Patronize Black-owned restaurants. We’ve highlighted our Pay it Forward partners in red.
  2. Create a culture of patronizing Black-owned businesses by posting about your experience on social media, tagging the restaurant and our partner, Soulcial Scene, on Instagram or Facebook.
  3. Share the map with friends and family and encourage them to patronize Black-owned businesses. And if you see a restaurant missing, add it to the list.

2) Specifically help support one of our restaurant partners, Nya Marshall and her restaurant IVY Kitchen and Cocktails by donating to her Patronicity campaign to keep her restaurant open. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is supporting this campaign through its MI Local Biz program and is matching donor contributions dollar for dollar through June 30, 2020.

3) Check out all of Pay It Forward restaurant partners to support them by ordering takeout/delivery or dining in safely:


About the Authors:

Dane is a producer and media enthusiast. He previously worked freelance video production and writing jobs in Michigan, Georgia and Massachusetts. Dane graduated from the Specs Howard School of Media Arts.