Inclusion and cooperation are concepts that Rev. Marcia Garland values highly, even though one might think competition would mean more to a small business leader. However, Garland, who heads the Black Business Owners of Glendale (BBOG), a consultation organization for Glendale’s African-American business owners, favors working together, a sentiment she even included in the organization’s motto.
“I’m not waiting to be asked to come to the table,” Garland told Jewish News. “I am creating the table and inviting others to it.”
The Kosher Food Pantry (KFP) is always a welcome guest at her table. The Phoenix Jewish group prepared 300 meals to give away at an early Thanksgiving event organized by Garland on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
People eating the meals provided by Kosher Food Pantry on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
KFP pitched its tent in front of the Sun Valley Tax storefront (event host and member of BBOG) on 47th and Glendale Avenues, and handed those lining up a pre-packaged meal, consisting of kosher turkey, potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread and pumpkin pie.
“That’s at least six or seven ounces of protein, not to mention the drinks, chips, candy and everything else we give out so people have a nice, nourishing and full meal,” said Daniel Gilkarov, KFP board member and “culinary director.”
Volunteers from Kosher Food Pantry donate meals at Black Business Owners of Glendale Thanksgiving/Kwanzaa event on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Wednesday was KFP and Garland’s third collaboration helping those in need and the second Thanksgiving meal giveaway. They first worked together at Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) more than a year ago, where they assisted dozens of people with food, clothing, portable showers and even a hairstylist.
Garland has been alarmed at the rise in homelessness in Greater Phoenix, particularly for African Americans, and she wanted to do something to help.
“For some reason, I thought of a meal,” she said. Though she was raised in the Pentecostal Holiness Church, where she earned the status of reverend, she has since become a Hebrew Israelite, keeps kosher, observes Shabbat and covers her hair. Working with KFP was a natural fit, she said. (She still maintains the title of Rev.)
KFP is working to resume its pre-pandemic schedule of taking food to various parts of Greater Phoenix, typically where homeless people gather.
“We bring out food and just start feeding whomever we can, and Marcia has been instrumental in helping us get back to that,” Gilkarov told Jewish News.
Though KFP’s food is kosher, the clientele doesn’t have to be.
“We’ve always maintained a strict stance of being non-discriminatory and non-denominational. We’ve even had openly hateful Neo Nazis, with swastikas on their chests and arms, come into our pantry. We say, ‘No problem. You come with a peaceful intent, you come with respect and we have no problem helping you out.’ We are not relegated only to helping the Jewish community,” he said.
Gilkarov was in Glendale with nine other KFP volunteers, including Rabbi Akiva Maki, who is a board member and chaplain for Ezras Cholim, a KFP partner program that works on a one-on-one basis with people in need who can’t leave their homes.
Jaselyn and Marcus Irving, and their small daughter, were three of the more than 100 people who lined up to eat the free Thanksgiving meals at picnic tables on site or take them to go. Whatever was left over went back to the pantry to be donated to other hungry people. Nothing went to waste.
“We were trying to find Thanksgiving meals we could eat and found out about this on Facebook. So we came,” Jaselyn Irving said.
Pictured from left are Jacques Mmbucwa, Rev. Marcia Garland, Daniel Gilkarov and Rabbi Akiva Maki.
The seven participating businesses promoted the event on social media and put up signs around the neighborhood. Additionally, Garland was interviewed by a local news station.
To add to the festive atmosphere of the Thanksgiving meals, Garland also used the day to celebrate Kwanzaa, an annual celebration of African-American culture the last week of December.
Garland, who does things her own way, decided that even though the two holidays are more than a month apart, it made sense to combine them as a way to showcase the people in her community and highlight the work of African-American small business owners. Each of the seven participating businesses will take turns hosting some kind of combined Thanksgiving-Kwanzaa celebration. JN