COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — As Georgia families struggle to buy groceries without their SNAP benefits, a local nonprofit founder is taking a stand by sitting on an empty refrigerator.
Sunday marked Day 7 since Dr. Terence Lester took a seat on the appliance outside of his nonprofit Love Beyond Walls in College Park.
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“I want people to be reminded that people on the inside of their homes, wherever they dwell, have empty refrigerators,” he said.
Lester said the seat is him standing in solidarity with the families and children who are struggling without SNAP benefits right now.
His nonprofit Love Beyond Walls centers on people facing poverty and homelessness. His heart aches for the many children impacted by this government shutdown.
“Children never ask to be unhoused, they never asked to be impoverished. Children never asked to show up in school and not be able to fully engage their lesson because their stomachs are hungry,” he said.
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Lester said sitting on top of this empty refrigerator for several hours a day will last throughout the month. And while he’s sitting, he is fasting.
“People stop by and ask me if I need anything do you need food, that’s the first thing people ask, and I’m like how can I take food from people when I’m sitting on an empty refrigerator,” he said.
“The way forward is together, and it’s going to take the whole community to understand what I do for my neighbor, I do for myself.”
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