As an adult, Chia Morgan has built a strong reputation as a pillar of the Flint community. But that philosophy actually started as a child, thanks to lessons her parents, Pastor Will and Debra Morgan, instilled in her when she was young.
“My dad, I can’t ever not give him a nod for what he did,” Morgan said. “He was very active with his block club in the north end. I think it was Bundy, York, Alma, Foss, Holbrook, all of those streets. He’s very meticulous with his yard, and so he would go out and he would help with the cleanups with the block club. He was very involved with a lot of organizations, and so just him taking me in the community with him, and seeing him take pride in his community was important for me. He’s a pastor. He’s taken me to clean toilets for the sick to see them and talk to them, and so giving back is something that’s ingrained in me from my childhood.”
Morgan has followed in those footsteps as the president of Well of Hope, a nonprofit organization that was founded through the Morgans’ church in 2005 and became incorporated in 2006 with a focus on fighting poverty by building a foundation of hope, resilience, and equity to support families and help meet basic needs. Morgan now leads the organization, and credits the strong foundation she had in her home for preparing her to serve the community.
“Not only having that torch passed to me from my dad and my mom, but also knowing how important this organization is to him and really trying to take it to the next level is where my passion comes from,” Morgan said. “He did all he could with his passion. He passed it to me. And so those things really keep me going.”
The organization began by simply filling gaps and needs in the community, including doing back-to-school giveaways and a festival, providing volunteer readers in schools, and more. In the years since, Well of Hope has become known for an annual Thanksgiving dinner, Blessed to be a Blessing, for people in need in the community. Each year, a large number of volunteers serve hundreds of people a large Thanksgiving dinner and also provide them with individual food baskets, school supplies, grocery cards, and other necessities.
Throughout the year, Well of Hope also helps people through its four walk-up food pantries, located in neighborhoods in the city. The first two were installed in 2017, one at Alma and Martin Luther King Jr. avenues on the city’s northside, and the other at Monteith and Daugherty streets in Mott Park. Two others, one at Myrtle and Saginaw streets on the northside and another at Forest Hill and Hamilton have since been added. Those locations were intentional, based on where Well of Hope thought they could have the most impact and be convenient for people to access.
“They’re very strategic,” Morgan said. “I studied food deserts since 2010, and so that’s where we began to grow Blessed to be a Blessing. In studying those food deserts, I started to understand that not only are there areas that don’t have access to a full-service grocery store, there are also areas of high poverty within our city. Somebody being able to go what would usually be a bus stop ride and access food (at one of the pantries), that’s very important.”
Poverty is obviously the driving factor in food insecurity, but Morgan notes there are also sometimes other factors that can contribute to it, including being a single parent with limited time or childcare, not having transportation or easy access to public transit, having mental health challenges, and other issues. Some families do receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, but those sometimes need to feed multiple people and need to be stretched over the course of an entire month. The pantries are intended to address some of those barriers. Each one also has a sign describing acceptable items to donate, as well as a QR code to make donations.
“Poverty is a key factor, but it’s not always just that,” Morgan said. “We have single parents trying to do the best they can. If they work all day, pick up the kids from school, get home to cook, and it’s like, ‘Man, I forgot the sauce. I got everything for the spaghetti. I need the noodles.’ They can go over to the pantry and get that as well because that’s also a deterrent to child abuse, that’s also a deterrent to neglect, and then that’s also a deterrent to a financial barrier where they may have to get on the bus, put three kids on it with them, just to go get some noodles. They can go right to the pantry in their neighborhood and get it.”
Just the sight of the pantries are also an important part of neighborhoods for informational purposes, because they’re a reminder that often people are suffering with poverty or hunger right next to us in our neighborhoods and we don’t even know. The visibility reminds others of the importance of helping and supporting people going through a tough time.
“With one of the neighborhoods, I got a lot of pushback,” said Morgan, a Mott Park resident. “I’d hear, ‘We don’t need that here. We don’t have poor people here. We don’t have poverty here.’ But then they started seeing that their neighbors were the ones that were commenting saying thank you, or they started seeing that their neighbors were the ones that they noticed there using the pantry. It has changed a lot of attitudes. I have talked to people who said, ‘I didn’t realize that people within my neighborhood needed it.’ And there have been people who originally gave pushback who I’ve been able to come across in conversations and they said, ‘Thank you for making us aware that charity starts right within our communities. We don’t have to go overseas to do any type of missionary work. We can just add to our grocery bill.’”
Morgan herself knows what it is like to balance many responsibilities. In addition to running a nonprofit, she’s also a mom, a therapist, a notary, and is active in her church and in the community. She does it all to simply inspire others to show up for people in need and show care for people in the community.
“Our mission really is to break the cycle of poverty, and with that, we don’t ever want to give people a handout, always a hand up,” Morgan said. “When you think about Well of Hope and think of the pantries, think of giving somebody your best. If it’s not within the guidelines that are on our pantry or not something that you would want your family to have, don’t think about giving it to those at the pantries because we want to give them dignity and respect as much as a meal.
The pantries are a volunteer and donor operation. Morgan said that there are people who once or twice per month put $20 or $30 worth of food in there. People interested in making cash donations can also do so online.
“When you think about the economy that we’re in, adding $40 to $60 a month just to consider your community, that’s a testament to what happens when we all just think a little bit for each other,” Morgan said.
But monetary or food donations are not the only ways people can support the program. Morgan said one of the most helpful things people can do is just spread the word by sharing flyers or content from Well of Hope’s Facebook and Instagram pages, or even posting pictures when they stock the pantries and encouraging others to shop and donate.
“Don’t be afraid to tell people that those living in poverty or those who are facing a tough time, that they deserve fine things as well,” Morgan said. “So sometimes it’s just having those conversations. There’s a lady, she actually utilizes the pantry, and she’s not able to put anything in it, but probably once a week she goes to clean it out and sanitize it. There’s always ways to help as a community to make sure that we’re doing our part to keep them going and to make others feel seen.”
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