Shelters work to keep up with record levels of homelessness
Newsy
A Virginia volunteer is working to service multiple localities in the state to help those without shelter survive as winter persists.
Januari Coates and her army of volunteers are serious about serving up culinary works of art at the Thurman Brisben Homeless Shelter in Virginia.
"If I cook noodles, they have to be pretty on the plate. If you're on my volunteer line and you're slopping food, get off my line," Coates said with a laugh.
Her work doesn't stop here — under her nonprofit, Stepping with Leaders, she also fires up her personal food truck delivering meals, dry goods and air fryers to people across D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
The air fryers are for unhoused people who often take up residency in hotels that lack traditional stoves; the food is for anyone in need.
"We don't ask questions. You don't have to fill out a form, you don't have to do anything. You could be a government employee. We don't care, because what happened when they got furloughed? They needed food too," she recalled.
