By Mike Kinney
Even during a shelter-in-place period, Richmond finds a good reason for a barbecue.
Soulful Softball Sunday is partnering with Holistic Healing Collective, Green Remedy and one of the city’s best known eateries, CJ’s Barbecue & Fish, to feed healthcare workers at Kaiser Richmond on Monday, April 20.
They’re prepared to serve hundreds of people from noon until 2 p.m. at a Kaiser parking lot across the street from the hospital, located at 901 Nevin Ave.
“Our main objective is to give our first responders and front line essential laborers a decent meal,” said Rodney Alamo Brown, co-founder of Soulful Softball Sunday.
While the event is for one day, Brown says the longterm goal is to feed essential laborers daily, as his organization is doing for local students in partnership with the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD).
Founded in 2015, Soulful Softball Sunday holds a popular annual gatherings featuring softball and a wealth of resources, and the organization participates in charitable acts throughout the year. Recently, it helped establish and staff an expansion of WCCUSD meal sites, providing closer access for students.
For the Kaiser food event, Soulful Softball Sunday has partnered with local businesses. Brown invites community members to volunteer to help keep essential workers fed.
“We use the moniker, ‘It must be a coalition not a competition,'” Brown said.
Antwon Cloird, also co-founder of Soulful Softball Sunday, said community service is critical during a crisis.
“You need to be spiritually connected to God in these times to be instructed on how to serve the people with real meaningful and heartfelt community activism,” Cloird said. “And that’s what we intend to do on April 20 is to take care of and show both our love and appreciation of our heathcare workers at Kaiser who are on the frontlines daily of the Covid-19 emergency.”
