City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson partnered with Philabundance, Independence Blue Cross and TerraVida Holistic Centers for a free food and winter coat giveaway Wednesday afternoon at the Cassie L. Holly Court Apartments complex at Point Breeze Avenue and Dickinson Street. All 100 winter coats were provided by TerraVida, a medical marijuana dispensary company with locations in Bucks, Montgomery and Chester counties, which held a coat drive in its dispensaries. All 270 boxes of food, which weighed over 4 tons, were provided by Philabundance.
“We decided to do a coat and food giveaway because we know that [in] this health pandemic, there are a lot of families who are in need of support,” said Johnson. “We know families are suffering and so this is the reason we’re out here supporting the people of Point Breeze today with this coat and food giveaway.”
Cathie Cashman, the head of TerraVida’s nonprofit arm called TerraVida VOWD (Victims of the War on Drugs), said that her organization participated in the event in an attempt to “help people who have been victimized by the War on Drugs.”
“With Terravida VOWD our core is helping people who are victimized,” said Cashman. “We realized that there’s people in prison – primarily people of color in prison – who have been victimized by the war on drugs, specifically for cannabis crimes. So we feel like we need to be in neighborhoods like this where we can give back because we are successful.”
Apples, onions, potatoes, milk, cheese, low-fat yogurt, chicken legs and all-meat franks were included in the boxes of food provided by Philabundance.
Wednesday’s event was the first food distribution event Johnson and Philabundance partnered for in 2021. Johnson did several food distributions with Philabundance in 2020, giving out an estimated 24,143 pounds of food.
Independence Blues Cross donated free face masks and hand sanitizers for the event.
