The Power of Food: The More We Love and Huckleberry Square
The Power of Food: Huckleberry Square and The More We Love
‘When The More We Love started working for Burien, I immediately noticed a massive improvement with the amount of people left on the street.’ – Huckleberry owner David Meinert on why he chose to support The More We Love
By Katie Kresly.
About a week ago, a local business, Huckleberry Square, decided to help Burien’s homeless outreach provider, The More We Love, in their diligent efforts to genuinely connect with unhoused people who were in need of services and shelter. The “Giving Wall” initiative allows the community to “pay it forward” by purchasing meals in advance for people who are in need.
Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon sent Burien.News the following request:
“I learned recently of the efforts from a local business, Huckleberry Square, to support services offered by the outreach provider The More We Love. Huckleberry Square is providing an avenue for our great residents to contribute directly toward helping unhoused people obtain a meal while The More We Love works to connect them with necessary service (drug treatment, emergency/transitional housing, etc). This is the type of relationship that our city has worked toward for the past two years.
“I appreciate greatly the partnership between Huckleberry Square and The More We Love. I hope that [our local news outlets] can help raise awareness of this partnership so it and our residents may continue to work together in connecting the unhoused to services.”
Over the weekend, we reached out to both David Meinert, owner of Huckleberry Square, and Kristine Moreland, president/co-founder of The More We Love (TMWL).
Mr. Meinert’s reasons behind Huckleberry’s Giving Wall revamp:
“We just started this program this week, but it’s sort of a continuation of one we’ve done before.
“We call it the Giving Wall. We’ve tried to use the restaurant as a platform to raise money or food donations for various local charities. In the past we’ve supported the Highline Severe Weather Shelter, Burien CARES, a homeless encampment, and various individuals.
“The Giving Wall idea came from seeing customers often paying for meals for people in the restaurant – teachers, people in need, students, etc, and seeing so many people in the community needing help, especially those on the street. I also kept hearing about people at drive thru’s paying for people in line behind them, and thought it would be great to find a way to formalize that.
“I did some online research and found a group of restaurants in Northeastern Oklahoma doing a ‘giving wall.’ So we tried the same thing. It was working well but I thought there could be a more targeted way to make it more impactful. I’ve been paying close attention to the work the City Council and City Manager have been doing to help people on the street, and really especially appreciated the change in who Burien was contracting with to assist in that.
“I was on the original community board of LEAD, and believed that work could be done more effectively. When The More We Love started working for Burien, I immediately noticed a massive improvement with the amount of people left on the street. I followed them on social media and saw several requests for help with food. The connection was obvious so I reached out to Kristine to see if we could figure some way Huckleberry could support their work. It has evolved from there.
Meinert also shared a personal story about the “Power of Food” in this work:
“We had a homeless man outside one of our restaurants lying on the ground screaming in pain. This went on for a couple of days and I could only think he would soon die. I called medics, police and the Seattle CARES team and none of them could help because he refused services. But the man continued to writhe in pain on the ground, screaming and moaning for now days. He refused all help. During a quiet moment, I approached him to see if he was hungry, because he obviously hadn’t eaten for at least a couple of days. I was able to convince him to go with the medics in exchange for a cheeseburger and fries. He finally agreed and ended up going with the medics. I saw him recently, after about a year, and he appeared clean and sober. Food is important. Everyone obviously needs it, but it can also build trust between people in need and those who want to help them. A meal can mean a life.”
From Ms. Moreland:
“The More We Love motto is to connect the community to those in greatest need. That is exactly what Huckleberry is doing!
“I’m grateful that Huckleberry and the community are showing up for us as a constant. A meal is a pathway out of homelessness, addiction, and trafficking. It’s a symbol of love and gives us a chance to be intentional with a conversation on how to support the person with their pathway.
“When we all do our part, it creates a ripple effect throughout the community where others will then rise up and say, ‘How can I be your constant?’ ”
She added… “We have many ways to support our work, including walking alongside us. Just email me to ask how!”
Mixed Community Response
On Monday, February 17, this hopeful, community collaboration was introduced as a “sponsored post,” (on a different local media site) however, several people on social media did not like the program change, and attacked anyone who dared to support the new initiative.
Unsavory allegations came mostly from Burien’s most outspoken homelessness advocates, suggesting that hungry people should not “have to jump through a bunch of hoops,” or “need a permission slip” to get a free meal. They suggested many other free meal locations in the area, while simultaneously questioning the intent of Meinert and Moreland.
On Facebook, David Meinert clarified, “This program is not designed for homeless to come in a get a meal. It’s designed to help people working with homeless and some others in need in Burien by support the work of TMWL. Sorry for the confusion.”
Kristine Moreland also responded as she dipped in a defensive toe, “No one needs to prove themselves worthy of a meal at TMWL. Everyone deserves to be fed. Huckleberry’s initiative is a great example of community support for those who need it most.”
Even Councilmember Stephanie Mora jumped in, expressing her confusion about “all the negativity around this,” and she shared how much excellent work TMWL had done in such a short time. She added,
“The point of the giving wall… is specifically for TMWL to use meals as another way to connect and build trust with someone they are working with and helping… getting them out of tents… moving them into safe housing… setting up transportation, appointments… holding their hand along the way.”
A few people plead for constructive suggestions instead of negative comments, but many were just confused about the kerfuffle.
Facebook comments by Kari Sabye summed it up:
“I’ve been reading all of the comments. It’s funny to watch all of the bleeding hearts for the homeless unless it’s Kristine Moreland doing it, right? I’ve seen her do way more for the area than anyone else. She’s also been commended by my friend who’s a life long King County Sheriff officer and they work along side each other. Then you have Krystal Marx spewing her hate out of nowhere because of her own insecurities. It’s no wonder she was never elected TWICE. What a bullet we dodged there. Whatever happens with the Huckleberry food distribution, it was well intended. I don’t see any other establishments or residents doing the same. But by all means, let’s go on and rip Huckleberry over the coals.”
Supporting Unhoused Individuals in Your Burien Community
If you wish to visit Huckleberry Square, a “locally owned Burien dining tradition since 1979,” and donate a meal to The Giving Wall, the restaurant is located at 14423 Ambaum Blvd SW, Burien, WA, 98166.
Or you may donate directly to The More We Love:
https://www.themorewelove.org/donate-test