City Seeds aims to provide meals for those who might otherwise go without

The Jacques Kelly column about feeding people during the pandemic hit home with me (“Baltimore’s can-do food chain is feeding 550 families amid the pandemic,” Aug. 8).

Before the pandemic hit, City Seeds, the nonprofit where I work, was focused on catering events and weddings and providing wholesale food for cafes and carryout locations. That changed almost overnight, and we reinvented ourselves. We have turned out hundreds of meals daily for people who are struggling to take care of themselves.

With our great partners, City Seeds prepared and delivered thousands of heatand-eat meals to people experiencing homelessness in Howard County. We have prepared meals for people with disabilities, served by the residential programs of Humanim, City Seeds’ parent organization. In the city, we partnered with Baltimore City Public Schools to prepare meals for student families. Kids in these families relied on their schools for meals. With schools closed, those children are at risk of going hungry, but we’ve stepped in to help.

We make healthy, home-cooked meals we would feed our children, and I do my part by writing notes of inspiration — “We Care” or “Be Safe” — and a smiley face on each package. It’s my small way of reminding the people we serve that they’re not alone.

This new focus fits well with City Seeds’ mission — to hire people with challenges to employment. We look forward to the time when people can go back to work and no longer rely on the food we deliver. But until then, we will keep working as a family in our kitchen on Wolfe Street, making good food, delivered with hope for a better future.