TOLEDO – The Junction neighborhood, just west of downtown, has been the focus of numerous revitalization efforts, but one of the lifelines to this community has stayed active since 1969.
The late reverend Harvey Savage Sr. didn’t need a sign from above to start feeding the poor; he looked out his back window.
“He was inspired by a man eating out of the garbage in the back yard,” recalled Harvey Savage Jr. “He invited the guy inside, and said, ‘We need to be feeding people.’”
Out of that moment, Savage Sr. decided to start the MLK Kitchen for the Poor.
More than 50 years later, the mission is the same, but Savage Jr., executive director for the MLK Kitchen at 650 Vance St., said that it, “seems like the need is greater now than then.”
Savage, Jr. puts the rough estimate of the amount of people fed by the kitchen each day at 300, and the increased need in the community has been “somewhat gradual. You see more people you haven’t seen before.”
Seniors are the demographic he noticed were most affected. “To live off of social security is not enough with the cost of food and utilities,” he said.
To help offset the increased need, the Toledo Firefighters’ Union Local 92 donated $7,000 on Wednesday as the kitchen heads into a busy time of year.
“I can’t remember not getting a check [from the firefighters’ union],” Savage Jr. said, but noted this check was much more substantial than what the firefighters regularly give.
Generally, the union takes a percentage of the firefighters’ checks and uses the money to support numerous charities in Toledo with those funds.
Phil Moline, vice president for the Local 92, said that usually the amount is between $500-1000, but this year a retired union member’s mother passed away and allocated $3,500 to be given to the MLK Kitchen.
“He [the retired union member] asked for it to be given and matched,” Moline said. And the union was happy to help out.
“We go into a lot of homes and environments, so we know this neighborhood,” Moline went on to say. “We’ve always had a lot of people in this neighborhood, and we know this charity.”
The union body elected to match the $3,500 to the MLK Kitchen, and Savage Jr. said the funds would go to operating costs and paying utility bills for the kitchen.
“This is our backyard,” said Joe Cira, president-elect and current secretary treasurer of Local 92. “Their [the kitchen’s] margins are so thin, and they’re not a business. When the cost of groceries goes up it affects everybody else.”
With that, Cira encouraged people to give to local charities and thanked the MLK Kitchen for their work in the Junction neighborhood.
“Firefighters have been great within the community, no matter what happens,” Savage Jr. said.
Food distributions occur Monday through Thursday, and the Kitchen is planning a large Christmas party on Dec. 23 at noon.
“All kids will get a gift, and we’ll have a Santa Claus,” Savage Jr. exclaimed.
To donate or volunteer with the MLK Kitchen for the Poor, go to kitchenforthepoor.org, reach out to them at 419.241.2596, or email them at mlk.kitchen@att.net.
