INDIANAPOLIS — A small but mighty blessing, serving those in need in the community. "Thy Kingdom Crumb" serves gourmet meals from a food truck, free of charge.
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WRTV’s Amber Grigley spoke with an expert about the importance of having resources like this in the community.
"We have chicken empanadas or chorizo and cheese empanadas. We also have chips and salsa, and then a homemade cookie as well. All of it is gourmet," Caleb Wuethrich, Outreach Director for Thy Kingdom Crumb, said.
Caleb Wuethrich said, "Thy Kingdom Crumb" does more than curb appetites.
"It's to remind people that God loves them. It's to meet people where they're at, and then we want to connect people with an organization that might have a physical need, and then also we'd love to introduce them back into the community, whether that be a church or another organization that would help," Wuethrich said.
Tuesday, they partnered with Helping Veterans and Families (HVAF).
"We partnered with them because we understand that 10% of the homeless population are veterans," Wuethrich said.
A goal of serving 200 people speaks to a larger issue that needs to be addressed.
"Homelessness is an issue that we treat as a crisis every day because we do not believe that people should be living or dying on our streets ever," Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, CEO with the Coalition for Homeless Intervention Prevention (CHIP), said.
Cozzi said her department is approaching homelessness with a level of urgency and intentionality.
"Making sure that we have housing pathways and services to get more people off the streets and out of shelters into permanent housing," Cozzi said.
Nearly seven months ago, CHIP launched the "Streets to Home" initiative, an $8.1 Million-Dollar solution Cozzi said is trending in the right direction.
"So far we've housed over 114 people directly off of our streets,” said Cossi. "Also closed three encampments and worked in two downtown zones. The promise of Streets to Home is that once we house everyone from an area, then we work to clean, close and maintain that area for its original usage."
Cozzi said partnering with organizations similar to "Thy Kingdom Crumb" aligns the momentum to respond in a unified way.
"We're meeting so many people who are hurting and in pain, and we want to come alongside them and walk with them," Wuethrich said.
“Thy Kingdom Crumb's” next pop-up will be this Thursday from 4-6 p.m. at the transit center on East Washington.
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