Corona Daily 100: The Giving Wall

Miami is a former mining town with a population of 13,000 in Oklahoma State.

28 year old Jennifer White should be admired for her courage to open The Dawg House in September 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. She sells hot dogs with extra meat, cheese, bacon, three-egg omelettes, and other hot meals.  

As if the coronavirus was not enough, Miami was hit with blizzards just like neighbouring Texas in February. The town was without power for a couple of days. The local mayor helped get homeless people into church shelters.

Jennifer wanted people in her community to be fed whether they had money for a meal or not. She came up with the idea of the giving wall. She put a sign near the entrance inviting her customers to buy receipts for extra meals and post the receipts on the café’s walls.

The mayor was the first to buy an extra meal and post the receipt on the wall. As the word spread, the café wall was filled with receipts within eight hours.

*****

Poor hungry people may not have money, but they have dignity.

They can simply come to the café, in an unobtrusive way pull off a receipt from the wall, sit at a table and get served a hot meal. The waiters are trained not to distinguish between guests who pay money, and those who pay with wall receipts. No questions asked. Tipping is not necessary. But some donors, who buy extra meals, attach one or two cash dollars as a tip to the prepaid receipt.

This infectious idea has spread to other towns such as Grove and Vinita in Oklahoma. Zack’s café has a notice that says: “If you are hungry or know someone who is… these tickets have been paid for in advance by previous customers. Please grab a ticket and eat!” The local church in Grove put up receipts worth $100 on the church wall.

Lasay Castellano, a nursing student who until recently worked as a manager of Zack’s café, said the diner serves about 600 people a day. She has been taping up receipts throughout the day for the last two months.

At Montana Mike’s, the general manager said she answered a call from a person from Chicago. He read the story about the giving wall, and wanted to purchase several meals and add them to the wall. He had never been to Oklahoma, but he loved the concept and wanted to be a part of it. People like him can keep the idea going, felt the manager.

In all these places, some people who were the beneficiaries of the giving wall, have now regained their lost jobs. They have come back to the same cafes, and bought an extra meal themselves.

*****

Jennifer White says among all the people who were the recipients of the free meals at The Dawg House, one family stood out. A couple and four daughters had quietly taken the receipts and sat at a table. “They were just so sweet, and their parents were beyond grateful and thankful.” Jennifer said. “They seemed like they had a lot going on and got to sit for an hour or so to just have a meal, have fun and laugh, and not worry about how much they were having to spend.”

*****

From each according to ability, to each according to need, a slogan by Karl Marx was dismissed as idealistic, impractical, and not consistent with human nature. Yesterday’s bicycle man and the giving wall stories suggest that human nature is still capable of being humane.

Ravi