Second-grader leads family effort to give back through homemade cooking

Spurred by a birthday wish, Second-grade student Ian Davis turned an idea of helping others into a family affair. Instead of gifts or a party for his fifth birthday, Ian asked his family to do something to give back.

That was two years ago.

Ian and his family now provide men and women in need with a homemade meal – and can regularly be found serving at Harrison and Sacramento in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood.

“He was riding home with my mom and saw some people on the street,” said Ian’s mother, Monique Washington. “He asked my mom, ‘Why don’t they have housing or food to eat?’ We went home and prayed on it and got to work. The first time we did it, we served 18 people. We went from 18 to serving 65, and now we are trying to serve 100.”

So what do they dish up?

“It’s a vegetable soup that my mom makes from scratch with potatoes, carrots, corn, pasta, some little snacks, and silverware,” Washington said. “Things that they need.”

Ian said it feels good to give back.

“Some people don’t have the things that I have, and I want to help them,” said Ian. “They thank us. They hug us, and they always remember us.”

Ian has big plans for his future: he wants to be a police officer when he grows up.