The Breakfast Club merges community and inclusion over hot plates
Photo courtesy of The Breakfast Club.
While most students are asleep on Mondays at 5 a.m., members of the Breakfast Club are making breakfast for the Cleveland Emergency Shelter. Led by Caiden Weber, a senior double major in biochemistry and Spanish, the club focuses on connecting to Cleveland’s homeless population.
“There’s something really raw and sincere about going where people live, cooking for them and being there if they want to talk,” said Weber. “Seeing the humanity of people who are often erased from the picture is really cool.”
The club also serves breakfast on Thursday and Friday mornings to accommodate COVID-19 capacity limitations and serve as many residents as possible. Brianna O’Neill, a senior pre-med biochemistry major, or Jackson Feather, a sophomore biochemistry major, typically leads Fridays.
“During non-COVID times, the shelter can have between 40 to 50 residents. Right now, it’s at [about] half capacity,” said O’Neill. “So, I think this week there were [maybe] 18 people there. That includes kids, middle-aged people and the elderly. Not everybody comes out for breakfast because it is early. At least 10 to 12 people normally sit and eat breakfast. They come and go.”
While they are striving to serve the community, members of the club have found themselves being served by shelter residents. Some students have compared their experiences to their residents’, challenging their perspectives on essential needs.
“Just like that, all I had to do was ask. I asked my parents, and they were financially able to buy me something that I don’t even need,” Feather shared.
Throughout their time at the shelter, club members reflect on the lessons they have learned through simply listening and walking beside shelter residents through weekly breakfasts.
“You just really learn to meet people where they’re at,” said O’Neill. “There are some days when we go in, and people are super talkative, and then there’s the other when nobody talks, and you just watch TV with them. I’ve learned that if there are people who want to chat, that’s fine. If not, we are guests in their home; this is where they are living, and that’s ok.”
For club members, community and lasting impact are shared over warm food.
“I can’t necessarily say ‘Here, let me put you up in a house.’ but I can cook them breakfast and let my conversation and actions show them Christ,” said Feather.
To get involved or keep up with the club, follow @leeubreakfastclub on Instagram.
