CLEVELAND — Tonya Griffith-Bullard has the spirit of giving.
“I’ve been like that all my life. My mama used to tell me I’d give all of my clothes and my shoes and my toys away to my friends, and then she’d have to go buy me some more because I been done said, "Aww, you don’t got that? Here, you can have it," said Griffith-Bullard.
She also has a gift for cooking.
“Oxtails with gravy and dumplings and Jamaican cabbage. And macaroni and cheese. I use like eight cheeses in my macaroni and cheese and it’s amazing," said Griffith-Bullard.
A few years ago, Griffith-Bullard's brother was living in a homeless shelter and told her about the men living there with him that often went hungry. So, she combined her two passions — giving and cooking — to feed men and women living at shelters.
“Some of the guys were just sitting around in the cold no blanket no nothing. So, I decided to do soup and chili. And that was my first time ever doing that. So I prepared the chili, and I prepared the soup. I bought the bowls. I put them in, you know Styrofoam containers (and) scooped it up so that once I got there it would be ready for them to eat. And I gave them the spoons and water and stuff like that, and that was my very first time ever feeding the homeless," Griffith-Bullard said.
Griffith-Bullard said her heart hurts for those with nowhere to go, and after being homeless herself for a period of time, she said she knows how hard it can be.
“When you young and you a teenager, you don’t want to abide by your parents rules. You either gotta abide by the rules or you gotta go. I chose to go. And I lived on my own back and forth and sleeping on everybody’s couches and stuff, so I was actually homeless. I didn’t have anywhere to go because I didn’t want to abide by my parents rules until I realized that, whew, it’s really hard out here, so I’m going back home.”
Paying for everything out of her own pocket, she takes to social media to ask friends and family to send her $5 so she can buy the food and items needed for the dinners and care bags.
“I’ll go to the different places that I know got things discounted. Like, I’ll go to the Goodwill that’s on 100, I mean, on Lee Road in the Plaza, and I’ll go and get t-shirts and blankets if they have any or whatever and then I’ll come home, I’ll wash everything, and then I’ll fold them up and put them in the bag.”
Griffith-Bullard likes to celebrate holidays with the people at the shelters, but since COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in the plans, people from her nonprofit organization "Ladies of Royalty" are making sure those who are homeless still get fed and showered with gifts.
On Valentine's Day, they put together bags for children that included toys, coloring books and crayons.
Remember how Griffith-Bullard loves to cook? Well for 30 years, now she has wanted to open her own restaurant. And after being a blessing to others for years an angel in the form of a restaurant owner offered her space to finally open "Sweet Tee's Kitchen" in a retail space.
“When I tell you — I shouted, cried, tears everywhere — I said, 'You playing with me?’ He said, ‘No, I’m serious.'”
Griffith-Bullard plans to open her restaurant in May, and she can't wait to see people's reactions to her food.
“When I see them and they smacking and licking their fingers, I love it! And that’s like a rush to me!”
But even with her dream coming true, she's still focused on how her business can in turn help others. Her next goal is to open a food pantry.
“And I stress to my friends like if I get some extra money, if I ever get rich, I’m going to open up a place where they don’t have to leave out at 6 in the morning. They don’t have to be back at 6 because sometimes guys get jobs, and they have to leave their jobs just to get back to the shelter, and I just feel bad about that.”
