Why at Least 50 People in Bed-Stuy Really Love Mondays [VIDEO]

Bed-Stuy resident Deon Davis Harris has worked as a budget manager at the New York City Transit Authority for more than 25 years now.

She’s also the owner of Everything Scratch Café, located at 7 Rochester Street (between Herkimer and Fulton Streets).

Between both jobs, Harris stays very busy. And yet, her list of responsibilities does not end there. Harris still has one other job, her favorite: providing free breakfasts for Bed-Stuy residents who cannot always afford a warm meal.

Every Monday, from 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Harris and a team of between three to five volunteers cook up and serve a hearty breakfast of grits, fried eggs, turkey sausage and a signature Scratch biscuit for about 50-60 needy residents who come into the restaurant each week.

The breakfast program, Hoops-to-Go, is a part of Not Just Hoops, a non-profit organization founded by Harris in 2006 to provide outreach services to the needy populations of Bed-Stuy and Ocean Hill.

Not Just Hoops started as a youth development program that sponsored basketball tournaments, mentoring and recreational services for young boys in Bed-Stuy and Ocean Hill. It has since grown to include a mixed bag of services, from GED classes, to free medical screenings and checkups to providing information on how to obtain a free cell phone.

The different programs Harris has launched through Not Just Hoops appear somewhat disparate but, at the same time and upon closer survey, are actually joined in harmony. For example, her jobs and health mobile clinics sometimes will set up right outside of the youth basketball tournaments. And her café’s kitchen is used to cook the once-weekly free breakfasts, while the waiting area is where information is provided about where to go for free GED classes (or how to get a free phone).

Harris will launch a new program according to the community’s need and her available resources. And her unscientific method seems to work: The grassroots organization hums along quietly and as efficiently as a well-oiled machine.

As an example, in December Harris started Hoops on Wheels, a breakfast delivery service whereby for $20 per month, elderly and disabled residents can arrange to have breakfast delivered to their door five days a week.

Harris got the idea for Hoops on Wheels after her own mother started having difficulty getting around.

“My mom was the inspiration, because after she started needing a wheelchair, I would take breakfast from the café over to her in the mornings,” said Harris. “Then I started thinking about all of the elderly people who needed food, but were confined to their beds or to a wheelchair. So we started delivering our breakfasts.”

Harris says so far, they’re delivering to about ten regular customers, but they would like to expand to at least 40, and then eventually, if they get more funding, 150. Harris is working now on writing a few grants. But with her full-time job at the Transit Authority and other responsibilities at the restaurant and with Not Just Hoops, it has been a painstakingly slow process.

So in the meantime, who’s paying for all of this food the community has come to depend upon for the last six years? Harris does, along with the sweat equity of her dedicated team of volunteers.

Harris is paying for everything out of her own pockets – money she makes at the Transit Authority and whatever profits she earns at the café. And occasionally, her Scratch Café customers drop a dollar or two into the fish bowl marked “donations,” to help aid her cause.

Every breakfast sells for the equivalent of $6.50 at the café. With 55 weekly customers on Mondays and delivery of an additional 50 meals a week, that’s about $2,530 in potential profit lost per month, counting the $20 charged for monthly Hoops on Wheels service.

Even the basketball tournaments and the health clinics, Harris admits, are self-funded.

“But I’m working on trying to get some help now,” she says shyly, while her eyes reveal the truth. “We dedicate all of our extra time and resources to ensuring the poor, the elderly and the disabled have access to a meal.”

With very little funding and no clear roadmap, Harris is proof of just how far you can go when your heart is your sole tour guide.

To learn more about Not Just Hoops, to make a donation or to volunteer, contact Deon Davis Harris at 917-842-0898.