Hunger behind 'vacancy' signs: Volunteer feeds hotel kids

In the economy of the "church ladies," two slices of hot pizza, a banana, one lemonade, milk, one box of cereal, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, snack crackers and a packaged Jell-O cost a hug.

Tips — another hug or maybe some smiles — are freely given and accepted.

Davida Baker, the "church lady" leader, demands payment when she shows up to feed kids in four of the hotels where Gwinnett County aid agencies house homeless families. The kids came up with the moniker. They may not know the ladies' names, but they line up when their cars arrive.

"What's the best part of your day today?" Baker asked one grinning boy last Friday, wrapping her arms around him.

"Pizza!" he yelps.

Hot pizza may be nothing to shout about for those with jobs, but those without have a different perspective.

Steve Parham and his wife lost their jobs within weeks of each other and then lost their home this year. He watched his 5-year-old son, Jackson, line up with other kids in a hotel off I-85.

"It's unbelievable," Parham said. "Things like pizza are just a little treat you don't get from the food pantries."

Baker discovered the hunger behind "vacancy" signs while volunteering at Norcross Cooperative Ministry a decade ago. A woman asked for food for three teenage sons. Baker noticed her hotel address on a form.

"That was the first clue that I had that a lot of people were living in hotels with kids," she said.

It didn't take Baker long to figure out that summer equaled no school-based breakfast and lunch for homeless children, and that families in hotels had limited means to prepare meals.

She started out feeding a family. Soon, friends from Campus Church of Christ joined in. They began deliveries to kids at hotels, where weekly rates can go for $150.

Now, every summer, they gather Monday through Friday in the cafeteria of Greater Atlanta Christian School. Eight to 10 volunteers in an assembly line pack 150 individual bags with a day's worth of food, including one hot item. Then they drive to the hotels.

Volunteers from other churches have helped out and are taking the idea home with them. Lawrenceville and Tucker First United Methodist churches are taking on other hotels.

Last Friday, two volunteers from Perimeter Church in Duluth were on hand for the first time.

Debra Preston Potter knows exactly why she came to help.

"This is for the kids," she said between stuffing bags.