As the wind-chill struck the mid 20s Thursday afternoon, an old white, blue, and orange bus pulling up to the Interstate 45 underpass was a sweet sight for the residents who currently call the Dallas bridge home.
The bus, piloted by John Little, is the Metro Relief mobile soup kitchen that many of them have come to look forward to.
"With the mobile soup kitchen, we can pull up wherever they're at and serve,” said Little, who’s been a leader at Metro Relief for some time.
The group, based in The Colony, makes the drive to downtown Dallas or Fort Worth in their bus three times a week to offer up food, donated clothes and company to the homeless residents of the cities.
On frigid days like Thursday, Little said the need for help has become clearer than ever.
"This guy earlier that I met, he sleeps on the sidewalk,” he said. “No tent, no coverings or anything. He puts a plastic bag over him and blocks himself with his clothes."
The homeless situation in the Metroplex is one that communities have struggled to find solutions for.
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So, CEO Austin Bonds started Metro Relief five years ago to help the countless other nonprofits in the area bring relief directly to the homeless population.
Now as the need grows, so does the group.
Metro Relief just got a State Farm community grant; one of only 40 organizations in the country to receive it and one of thousands to apply for the money.
With the help, the group has started outfitting two more buses to make into mobile soup kitchens for use in DFW and as they try to expand to other communities.
Little said their goal is to gain the trust of members of the homeless community in order to better empower them to seek solutions to a better life, though he said that’s certainly a big job.
