Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Lowe.
Hi Jessica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I never had any desire to run a nonprofit. I can honestly say it never once even crossed my mind. But, a few years back, I became interested in attending culinary school. It was kind of a crazy dream of mine because although I love cooking and baking, I didn’t have any desire to work in the food industry which made me feel like maybe this plan was a waste of time and money. Even still, it felt right so I went with it. While researching all of the different school options, I felt impressed to attend a particular culinary school in downtown Salt Lake.
Less than a week into school, I became hyper-aware of the homeless problem downtown. Because of the amount of food we were wasting each day, I started bringing containers from home to pack the food in and as I would walk to my car after class each day, I would give the homeless people I passed my leftover food.
Each day after that was similar to the one before but I grew in my confidence and courage little by little. Eventually, we outgrew school leftovers and began providing food that we would prepare the night before. I gained a partner from school who would ride with me each day and share the duties of making the food. Every day after class, the back of my car would be stocked full, and we would drive around to visit our friends and pass everything out. For 12 weeks straight, 4 days a week, we provided food, drinks, and whatever else had been donated to us from friends to about 20-30 homeless friends.
When school ended, I knew I couldn’t continue to maintain at that pace, but there was no way I was going to stop my efforts. I had formed so many friendships with all of the homies (that’s what we call them). I also realized that THIS was the reason I had felt so strongly about not only attending culinary school but this one specifically. I knew this was what God was calling me to do. To use the talents that He had blessed me with, to serve His children. So I decided to turn it into an official non-profit, focus my efforts on food, and visit the homies one day a week. Today, we visit the homies every Thursday.
With the help of so many people in our community, we can give each one of them a hot homemade meal, as well as a sack lunch for later which is composed of a sandwich, chips, fresh fruit, a homemade treat, juice, and water. We also enlist the help of friends and family to put together hygiene kits and donate other items the homies are always in need of. We are currently feeding 100 homies every Thursday.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There have been some challenges in this journey. Overcoming my fears was the first one. I remember vividly the first time I handed just two containers of food over to some homeless men. I was shaking like crazy and it felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest.
And because I am obsessed with true crime, my mind was racing at the number of scenarios I was SURE were gonna take place at that moment. These were men I would normally NEVER approach alone in any circumstance, but through my fear and trembling, I felt an inner peace of the spirit pushing me. As I handed the men the food and introduced myself, my fear began to suddenly melt away and a change took place not only in myself but also in them. Even though I knew nothing about these men, I saw them as completely different people than just 2 seconds before. Aside from the direction in which our paths had taken us, they were just like me. These are my brothers.
I then realized that I can either allow fear and worry to consume me, or I could use them to motivate me to change, grow and overcome. I learned that fear is good and it signals an opportunity for growth. I also learned that fear is not caution. Caution is healthy and it’s the spirit’s way of warning us of danger, to be careful or prepared. When we react appropriately and take precautions as we are prompted, there is no need to dwell on fear. This has been eye-opening and I’ve been able to apply this perspective in multiple areas of my life.
The second obstacle would have to be asking for help. About a month into my visiting the Homies once a week, I started to realize this job was more than I could handle alone, but because I’m stubborn and I think I can do everything myself, I didn’t want to reach out and ask for help. I felt like doing so would put a “burden” on others; a burden I had created and should handle on my own.
I was also worried that if I had people pitch in, they wouldn’t put as much love and care into making the food as I did and that was important to me. I never want to feed my Homies food that feels like an afterthought. I want it to FEEL like love like someone cares. I had to learn to have the humility to ask others to join me on this journey AND to overcome the urge to have total control of every situation. Both are a continual work in progress for me to this day.
We’ve been impressed with Be a Little Too Kind, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that serves the Salt Lake City area. Our mission is to provide homeless and indigent individuals with high-quality meals as well as essential life-sustaining support, items like blankets, coats, socks, and hygiene items. We recruit the help of our community to make this happen by allowing them to sign up to provide the items we need each week.
As an organization, one of the best parts of this journey has been the relationships with the homies. We love these people like they’re family. The stories they share with us would blow your mind. These are some of the strongest, kindest, most generous, and REAL humans we have ever met. We especially love seeing the change that occurs inside of them over time from the day we meet them. Their confidence begins to grow, they smile more, give hugs, share more intimate stories about their lives and just come out of their shell.
They are nowhere near perfect, but neither am I; no one is. Instead of focusing on their weaknesses, we see them for their potential, and it is SO GREAT. It has opened my eyes to the relationship God has with all of us and our potential. He continues to see past what we have trouble overcoming and has faith in our ability to reach our potential. Of course, we pray for recovery to be the goal for all our homies, but we know this isn’t always a realistic outcome. However, we HAVE been able to see a handful of homies enter addiction recovery centers and work hard to get their life back on track and that’s been so amazing.
The second best part of this experience is the donors! We have been able to see so many people in our community come together to serve. They bring to the table their time, talents, and resource just to be able to shine some light and love on our homies. We have a signup sheet where people can provide the items to the sack lunch each week, but we’ve also seen people get creative on their own and come up with things to donate. This is my FAVORITE thing. We’ve had churches get together and hold a coat drive. We’ve had a woman who sells essential oils put together mini first aid kits with tiny jars of oils in them for healing.
We’ve had a woman who owns a vinyl sticker company make Jesus stickers for us to hand out. We’ve had the owner of a homemade soap company make mini bars of bouji soap for each homie. We’ve had sports teams and small businesses hold team-building service activities where they make the sandwiches for that week or facilitate an event to come together to build hygiene kits. This has been beautiful to watch. We can’t do without our donors, they truly keep us running. Anytime I have the opportunity to thank them publicly, I take advantage of it. So, to anyone who has ever donated in any way to help us, THANK YOU!
If there’s one thing I want people to know about Be a Little Too Kind, it’s the power that humans have when they come together. I didn’t use to be the type of person that had a lot of interaction with others. I would avoid it at all costs. But I’ve learned that the value of what not only I can gain but what others can gain as well from pushing outside of my comfort zone, greatly outweighs my fears. This nonprofit’s mission is feeding the homeless, but I believe the PURPOSE of it is actually to bring people together.
It’s to encourage them to find the thing that makes them THEM. This is the part of you that allows others to know who Jesus is. Then to work as a whole, sharing those things. In doing so, we can create an incredible web of connections full of an array of talents, ideas, and perspectives. To sum it up, allow people to know Jesus, by knowing YOU, by loving others, by serving others, and by being a little TOO kind.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
If you’re interested in getting involved, there are several ways you can help!
*We are always accepting monetary donations through Venmo or Paypal on our website.
*You can request to be added to our signup sheets by providing us with an email on our website where you can pick a date to provide items in the sack lunch.
*You can donate items that are commonly needed which you can find listed on our website. Contact us for a drop-off location or an address to have items shipped from Amazon.
*You can participate in our special events by providing us with your email.
*You can purchase any of our merch on our Instagram.
*You can be creative and come up with something on your own by using your unique gifts or talents, and then work with the Be a Little Too Kind team to make it happen.
*You can volunteer for positions we may have available by sending us an email describing your special skills.
*You can also support us by following us on our social media platforms and spreading the word!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bealittletookind.org
- Instagram: @bealittletookind
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeaLittleTooKind/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-lowe-91b263276/
- Other: https://venmo.com/u/bealittletookind
