SUMTER, S.C. — Two Sumter chefs are teaming up to host a community food drive, drawing on their own experiences with homelessness to help those around them.
"The house just filled with the smell of baking bread, and it's just one of the most comforting smells to me," Jess Faulkner said, reflecting on her childhood.
Faulkner grew up baking bread with her mom.
"Her and I would stay home, and she would just bake loaves of bread. We wouldn't buy it because she would just bake it," Faulkner said.
Now, she’s turned that hobby into a career as a chef working from her kitchen. When she moved to Sumter from Virginia, Faulkner said she realized something about her new community.
"I was just really surprised to see such a large homeless population here," she said.
It’s a struggle Faulkner knows personally.
"Living on the streets, people don't look at you. They don't make eye contact with you. They don't say ‘Hey, good morning,’ you know?" Faulkner said. "Or if you say, 'Hey,' they look away from you. It's, it's almost like you're not a person, like you're not human. And I think that's the respect that everybody deserves. Just to be treated with human decency."
It's what Faulkner found through people in her community who took her in and offered help until she was able to get a job and find a place to live. This kindness Faulker experienced is why she’s teamed up with fellow Sumter chef Sam Glenn.
"I think that, as women, we should build each other up in the community," Faulkner said about wanting to work with Glenn.
Glenn said her love for cooking also started when she was young.
"I've always loved feeding people and them loving, like, what I cook," Glenn said. "When I was little, I used to watch my mom. I was a fan of Food Network; I love Chopped."
The pair have bonded over their love for food and their past experiences.
"I, myself, have dealt with, you know, just growing up with my mom, homelessness," Glenn said. "So, there's no better way to help somebody if you've been in that position then to, you know, give back and show that you understand."
But, in 2019, Glenn said she bought an apartment and worked to save money to support herself and her daughter. Now, she’s working with Faulkner to host a community food drive, collecting non-perishable food items in a collection bin at Sumter Original Brewery.
Faulkner spends her free time baking bread and selling it, using the money to purchase perishable food items that the two women will use to cook a community meal for people who need it.
"I just feel like it's something that we all have inside of us to, you know, feed our fellow man," Faulkner said. "Because everybody deserves a meal. Everybody deserves to eat."
A local group, Sunday Dinner with a Twist, has teamed up with the women to help by providing fried chicken and to-go food containers as they look to gather as much food as possible.
"How little or how much we have, we're still going to pursue the food drive and feed those who need it," Glenn said.
People can drop off non-perishable donations at Sumter Original Brewery through Sept. 1. To purchase bread and support the drive, message Faulkner on Facebook or email leftoverslimited@gmail.com.
"There's a lot of homeless people, a lot of people struggling to pay rent and take care of their kids and everybody kind of needs somebody to help them and to just give them that foot up - take some type of responsibility off of them, whether it's meal for a day or one bill," Glenn said. "It’s very important because we've all been there at one point in time."