RICHMOND, Va. -- Every Sunday morning, Minnie Robinson gets up at 6 a.m. to prepare for her day.
For the past five months, Robinson, her family and a neighbor have been making and handing out lunches to the homeless.
But before the homemade lunches are distributed, the group gathers to say a prayer.
"The nation, let's come together, help one another," said the couple's neighbor and fellow volunteer Katherine Holland." Stop knocking each other down, pick'em up. Don't pass the street because they homeless. I was homeless and I know what it feels like -- and you just kept praying to God -- God brought me out of it."
The group's route takes them to some of the most impoverished parts of Richmond. They travel from Chamberlayne Avenue, 25th Street, Rady Street, to the Coliseum and near the Gilipin Court public housing neighborhood.
"We ask them, 'Do you need anything that we can help,'" Robinson explained.
Robinson and her husband were both homeless, so they know exactly what those in need are experiencing.
"It's a terrible right now... I've been homeless, so I know how they feel out here," she said. "And they hungry, because I was hungry. And that's why I came out and I try to help the ones I left behind me."
The group is giving away food items and bottles of water, but when the season changes, Robinson said they will also distribute blankets and cold-weather items.
"We just ask the city to pray for us and the people out here," Robinson said. "We need help. We need riders. We need people to fix the sandwiches, give donations, so that we can get the food out to them. And they know we coming and they wait for us to come."
For more information on how to volunteer or help, contact Minnie Robinson at 804-204-9392.
