BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Seasons 52 Fresh Grill in Birmingham is reaching out into the community to help address a problem that has become all too desperate in many of large cities across the country by working with the Old Firehouse Shelter to provide nutritious, wholesome meals for the chronically homeless men Firehouse serves.
“This is our way of putting our stamp on the community and doing our part and giving back. A lot of organizations may only give during holidays,” Seasons 52 managing partner Michael Gambino told Fox 6.
At the end of each day, Seasons 52 gathers the restaurant’s unused meats, vegetables, and excess catered meals, and packages and freezes them to be distributed by Firehouse.
“We have all this extra product from parties and events. Rather than just throwing it out and wasting it, we package it, freeze it, that way we can give back to the community,” said Seasons 52 executive chef Paul Heim.
Over the past two years, Seasons 52 has donated more than 1,200 pounds of food, which has been used by Firehouse to provide approximately 1,600 meals for homeless men in the Birmingham metro area.
After starting out in 1983 as simply a homeless shelter, Firehouse has become much more. According to their website, Firehouse now provides three meals a day to around 100 of Birmingham’s homeless men, and affordable housing to over 200 men each night. The program also provides meals, clothing, addiction recovery, free legal counsel, transportation to mental health professionals, job interviews, art therapy, the YMCAm and offers GED and literacy tutoring.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Alabama has more than 5,000 homeless men and women, many of whom are veterans. While reports on the exact proportion vary, between 30 percent of 70 percent of homeless individuals suffer from some form of mental illness.
Comprehensive programs such as Firehouse, which seek to meet the nutrition, health, education, and housing needs of homeless men and women are widely known to be the most successful.
To learn how you can work with Firehouse visit their website. To find a homeless shelter in your community visit www.homelessshelterdirectory.org.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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