DETROIT – On any given Friday afternoon, you can find a group of neighbors from Detroit’s East Side gathered in a community center on E. Canfield Street, hard at work.
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“We are an organization that is a true grassroots organization,” said Mrs. Dee, one of the group’s leaders.
The team is part of an organization called the 48207-11 Grassroots Detroiters. Each week, they are making sure members of the community are fed. Fed in more ways than one.
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Mrs. Dee said the organization’s main mission is to take care of its community. Whatever the needs may be.
In addition to weekly food distribution, the organization provides home improvement services, it works with returning citizens, and advocates for housing equity. You name it, they are doing it.
A community center on E. Canfield has become the organization’s hub. The food distribution program started on the organizers’ porch, years ago. Then it moved to the back of a pickup truck.
“We would have potatoes and onions, and just whatever food we could get together and pass out to the community,” Mrs. Dee explained.
Over time, the program moved to the community center.
“The needs have definitely grown,” Mrs. Dee said. “Especially with inflation going up the way it has. There are a lot of people in need. Post-COVID. Post-Pandemic. Even during the pandemic, we fed like hundreds of families every week.”
With all the good the Grassroots Detroiters is doing, there’s potential to do more. However, there is a big problem.
The community center’s gymnasium of off limits right now.
“We had torrential rain,” Mrs. Dee explained. “The roof is in need of repair. The windows were in need of repairs. And the water came in and just flooded the whole gymnasium floor.”
The gym’s floor is warped. It’s seriously buckling in areas. The damage has been a major setback.
Mrs. Dee said, “We’d been working on getting some programs in here. Basketball programs. Dance. Doing theater.”
The group had plans to provide youth programming from the gym. The Grassroots Detroiters just haven’t been able to use the space the way its wants.
Santell Hughes lives in the area. She’s familiar with the Grassroots Detroiters’ work.
“I come once a week,” Hughes said.
Like many neighbors, Hughes relies on the organization’s assistance to help get by.
“With the bills and everything rising, and the income not coming up as fast, it helps with you being able to feed your family,” Hughes explained.
It’s being able to show up for neighbors, in different ways, That’s helping the Grassroots Detroiters improve its community.
The 48207-11 Grassroots Detroiters will be holding a town hall meeting to discuss some critical community issues at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11 at its community center located at 3127 E. Canfield.
The organization is also hosting a holiday corned beef and turkey giveaway, Tuesday, November 21 at 3 p.m. at its community center.
For more information about volunteer opportunities and donations, contact 313-826-4161.
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