The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
FEED ONE, TEACH ONE
Norristown’s Darnell Hinton and friends are helping homeless addicts A simple way of forging a connection that will pave a way
NORRISTOWN » It’s not just about offering a slice of pizza.
It’s about the bonding over that slice of pizza that will ultimately make a difference in their lives.
Darnell Hinton’s true goal is to get the homeless of Kensington off the streets and away from the drugs that landed them there.
It’s a painstakingly slow process he calls Teach One Feed One that started off less than a month ago with the pizza he and the others in his group deliver from Norristown to Kensingon every Sunday afternoon.
Why pizza? Specifically, Little Caesars Pizza?
“Everybody likes pizza. It’s something that’s cost effective. You spend five bucks, you get eight slices and you can at least give eight people one slice,” said the Norristown native, who is in the process of growing his Facebook page Teach One Feed One.
“We’re a nonprofit. We meet every Sunday and go into the Kensington section of Philadelphia and bring as much food and buy as many pizzas as we possibly can. We bring water and care packages, and we hand it all out to the homeless and the people who are stranded out there.”
The first week the group collected eight pizzas, Hinton said.
“The week after that we actually doubled it and were able to get 16 pies and four or five cases of water. We also gave out about 25 CARE packages that were personally prepared by someone who came with us. It’s all through donations from people who are seeing what I’m doing and are contributing and donating money to us. I had been just driving around collecting money from people but now I’ve got the Facebook page up and running and people are donating through apps. I’ve raised over $400 for this Sunday. This week coming up will be the best week we’ve had yet. I’m going to be able to feed a lot of people this week. We were able to feed over 200 people last week and this week we’re going to double that. The fact that there are 200 homeless people to feed,” Hinton added, “gives you an idea what kind of area that is. I don’t think a lot of people understand that.”
Hinton explained that he was inspired to create Teach one Feed one to shed light on the horrors of the drug epidemic that is currently epitomized by the situation in the Kensington area of Philadelphia.
“It looks like a Third World country down there. Dr. Oz actually did a feature on Kensington. He walked through it and said ‘this is hell on earth.’ It is really one of the worst drug populated and poverty stricken areas in the country,” Hinton said. “There isn’t enough attention on it. The cops ignore it. It’s going on right in front of people’s faces and you can’t miss it or avoid it. The ‘Teach one’ part is that we want to shed light on addiction, and, more specifically, on how Kensington, which is right in our own backyard, is being affected and how terrible it is there. We want to let people know what’s going on, how people like us — I went to West Chester University — who are educated and come from different backgrounds, no matter what color you are, or what you look like, can be affected.”
The “Feed one” aspect is a little easier to understand, Hinton allowed.
“The idea of feeding the homeless is letting them know that we’re here for them, to give them some hope and some inspiration to do something better with their lives. They’re not getting help from anyone right now. There are places where they can go and get a meal every now and then, but there’s no one down there doing what we’re doing,” added Hinton, who studied Criminal Justice at West Chester University.
He said he understands what the homeless in Kensington are going through.
“I know about Kensington because I have personally been affected by addiction and I know what these people are going through. So I’m doing this because I don’t want another family to have to go through what I went through. I’m trying to give people hope to let them know that they can get their life together. I essentially went from one of those people on the streets of Kensington to being someone who was able to come back and provide food to the people on the streets of Kensington.”
The pizzas are a simple way of forging a connection that will pave the way for the transformation he envisions for every homeless person, he explained.
“What I eventually want to do, through government subsidized funding, is provide a place where people who are homeless, people who are affected by addiction, can come and allow us to provide them with food, shelter, whatever they need, with the understanding that we’re not going to enable the problem but do our best to integrate them back into society, where they can become productive members of society instead of destructive members, so they’re not robbing people or stealing from stores. Give them a second chance at life again. As quickly as possibly we’d get them into rehab so we can fix the issue instead of perpetuating the issue,” Hinton said.
“The long term goal is to rehabilitate people and integrate them back into society so they’re not committing crimes and not ruining their lives over drugs and something that could have been avoided if they’d had the opportunity to change their lives. What they’re doing because of their addiction is not an indication of what kind of people they are; it’s just something they’re doing to survive so they can function that day. It’s no reflection of who that person truly is. So if I can prevent someone from ruining their life, then it’s all worth it. It will benefit them, benefit the community. There will be less crime. They won’t get these charges and sit in jail for 30 days and, once the drugs are out of their system, think ‘that was a really stupid decision I made, I wish I hadn’t done that.’ But now it’s too late, they have a charge and are looking at three or four years in jail over something that wasn’t worth it at all.”
A lot of the people donating to Teach one Feed one are friends and acquaintances of Hinton’s, he noted.
“They know the struggles I’ve been through and what it took for me to overcome this,” he said. “But there are some people contributing who have just seen the Facebook page and like what we’re doing.”
Typically, donations of anywhere from $5 to even $100 — it’s not the amount, it’s the thought,” Hinton noted — to Teach one Feed one are made via the Venmo app and Cash App. Checks may also be mailed to Hinton at 2306 Liberty Court, Norristown, Pa. 19401.
Hinton’s relationship with the homeless hasn’t gotten to the point where the word ‘rehab’ is even mentioned.
“No, not yet. We’re still fairly new to them,” he said. “We’re just in the beginning stages. That’s why it’s starting out as feeding the homeless on Sundays, although that’s nowhere near what I want this to be, what I envision this being.”
For now, Hinton and the five or six people in his group are just some friendly faces that show up bearing pizza every Sunday, and that’s fine with Hinton.
“They’re getting to know me and they’re expecting me,” he said. “I feel like I have an obligation now to be there because they’re looking for me. But this is a team effort and none of this would be possible without the help of those who offer their time and other contributions. This is not about me. This is about preventing the youth from living the nightmare my family did and creating an opportunity for those struggling to regain hope and hopefully the inspiration to turn their life around. Also, allowing them the opportunity to be integrated back into society as productive members as opposed to being destructive and ruining their life, or even worse the lives of others around them.”