Saint Sabina’s 3rd Annual ‘OPERATION HOPE’ Provided 2,300 Free Dinners to Community
By Chinta Strausberg
The third annual “Operation Hope” free hot dinner giveaway was a huge success Monday thanks to Father Michael L. Pfleger and his sponsors including the Johnson Publishing Co., WVON, Terry Peterson, Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16), the Chicago Urban League, the Faith Community of Saint Sabina and BJ’s staff who prepared 2,300 dinners that were all given away to grateful residents.
A line of men, women and children wrapped around BJ’s Market and Bakery, 79th and Racine, owned by John Meyer, who could be seen supervising his staff from 3 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. when the last of the 2,300 dinners was given away.
WVON’s President Melody-Spann Cooper was one of the volunteers along with Senator Collins, Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th), the staff from Ebony Publishing Co., the Chicago Urban League including its president. Andrea Zopp and members of the Faith Community of Saint Sabina.
Asa “Duce” Powell, president of 5.2 org, dropped by with a bunch of flyers for his Monday, December 24, 2012, toy giveaway from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Saint Sabina ARK, 7800 So. Racine, for preferred ages 3-12-years-old. Jonathan Jackson also stopped by.
With Christmas carols playing softly in the background and Saint Sabina’s internationally known singer/organist Pierre Walker playing the keyboards, WVON’s Cliff Kelley broadcast live praising Meyer for his community outreach.
When asked how did “Operation Hope” begin, Meyer said, “Father Pfleger put it all together. Without him, we couldn’t have done this.” Explaining, Meyer said Pfleger came to him and said, “Terry Peterson and Father Pfleger came to me and said they wanted to serve the community, and I said I’m all in. They got other sponsors involved and we just did it…. We’re serving 2,300 people today and that’s a big deal,” said Meyer who also owns a similar restaurant at 87th and Stony Island.
Last year, he served 2,100 dinners. When the food ran out last year, Pfleger said Meyer provided his own food. “”That’s the kind of person John Meyer is…just feed them, help people and blessed people. He ran out of food in the restaurant.”
In an interview with Father Pfleger, who calls Kelley his “co-pastor and who wore a T-shirt saying, “Peacemaker,” explained why he came up with the idea of “Operation Hope.”
“A few years ago, we had so many people coming here saying they were hungry. We passed out turkeys, but there were so many people coming to us asking for help. Some people don’t have stoves or have gas at home so they can’t cook. We were giving out a whole bunch of heaters to people for electric heat who don’t have any gas in the house.”
Pfleger came up with the idea of supporting Meyer’s restaurant thinking “Let’s blessed people and bless BJ’s at the same time.” Last year, “We’re giving out 2,300 dinners we’re going to give out…some of the best food you can get.” Pfleger revealed his favorite food is BJ’s French toast.
Kelley told Pfleger “You have done so much for 79th Street.” Pfleger explained, “I believe if you are in the neighborhood, whether you’re a pastor, a business owner or a resident, your job is to not just have your house or your program your job is to say how do I bless this community because if the community does better, we all do better.”
“If we can bring in Walgreens, bring in DADC, bring in Elder’s Village, BJ’s Market, a blowing alley…, everybody in Auburn Gresham gets blessed by it. We don’t want anybody to move. Stay here because if we move, there will be people trying to come back to the city and get your house,” said Pfleger. “We’re staying here and building up the Auburn Gresham community.”
Pfleger said had it not been for the economic depression from 2007-2008, there were more businesses ready to come to the Auburn Gresham community. Pfleger is still hopeful they will come.
“We have to wait out the difficult time and keep reaching out. We have more plans, more ideas and more businesses we want to bring into the community,” said Pfleger. “We want to make Auburn Gresham a point of destination where people from other parts of the city come here.” He said that is what Meyer has done. “We believe this is a jewel on the South Side.”
Kelley asked Pfleger what are his additional duties besides being the pastor of Saint Sabina. “I am the representative for the Archdiocese on violence. We are in a violent society, and it didn’t happen overnight. Since 911, we’ve been teaching that war is how we handle our issues. We pray after 911 but the next day we started getting our bombs, our missiles and our drones and we start sending them out to everybody.
“We have to understand that we’ve taught violence,” said Pfleger. “We do it on TV. We do it on the radios. We do it in the videos. We do it the games. All of this stuff feeds it,” he said referring to the escalation of violence in America.
In retrospect, Pfleger said, “We used to use our minds and use our mouths. Now, we use our fists; use a gun, a knife. We have to change the culture of society. We have to get rid of these assault weapons. It’s time to get rid of these hard magazines, these assault weapons. You can’t hunt with them because thee will be nothing to eat. They are military weapons.”
Pfleger said, “If you want to help communities like this, bring jobs in, get a good education and help the resources of the community and support the people here. That is what we have been trying to do with the young brothers this summer.
“We had four gangs this summer we ran a treaty with and of those four gangs not one of them has shot since September 15th, and I want to thank those brothers…,” Pfleger said.
Kelley asked Pfleger to comment on a plan by the city to tear down more than 200 buildings. “Some buildings may be beyond repair, but I say bring in a team of construction folk” who would grade these buildings. “If we get ten buildings that are good enough to renovate, I say go to these crooks out here, the banks that are holding all of these buildings. The biggest slum landlords are the banks.
“They take these properties from people. They don’t take care of them,” said Pfleger who said they should go to the bank and ask for those buildings. “We got tons of brothers out here over 300 with all sorts of skills, let them come in, put together a group without the union because the union ain’t hiring them, and I love the union, but if they don’t hire you, we can put together our own union and start a new union of brothers who can’t get in the unions, give them some of these buildings.”
Pfleger said let them renovate the buildings then allow the ones to renovate them own them….” Pfleger said he and others did just that in 1969-1970. “We took the black nationals” and others and got three buildings from the city. “We had two gangs come together, draw a peace, gave them the building. They fixed up the buildings and they became the owner of the three buildings,” said Pfleger. “But, we have to go after the banks. They are slum landlords in our community.”
Pfleger is making his own list of the abandoned buildings in the Auburn Gresham community and will go to the banks seeking ownership. He has those skilled ready to renovate them.
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