MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Life can change at the snap of a finger.
No people know that better than Memphis people.
I’ll give you an example.
There’s a little restaurant on North Main Street called Westy’s. Jake Schorr owns the place. He said he first opened it in December of 1983.
“It was like the wild, wild, wild west out here then,” he said. “It was something. We were very aggressive in our efforts to make it safe, including having somebody watching what was going on from on top of the roof for almost two years. I never told anyone that before.”
There were a lot of homeless in the neighborhood. Jake Schorr got to know them. He decided 17 or 18 years ago - “I can’t remember exactly” - he started feeding the homeless and the needy on Thanksgiving Day - no charge.
“It was small,” Schorr said of his first year. “We fed 500 people, maybe a bit more. We do 11-to-1200 now, on average.”
Schorr partners with Lindenwood Christian Church, and a great many volunteers come from Lindenwood.
“The number of people showing up to help is remarkable,” he said. “We have a waiting list of people to help. A lot of the people who help bring food. We need food.”
2020 and COVID-19 changed everything. Schorr wasn’t sure his little restaurant would survive.
“We were fortunate. I didn’t have to lay anybody off. We lost a lot of money, and we still are losing money.”
Schorr said he thought the Thanksgiving feeding the needy tradition was also going to end. It won’t.
They will socially distance people, nobody will be eating inside, there will still be clothes, and socks available for free.
Jake Schorr said this happens, not because of him, but because of his friends.
“People are good,” he said.
