When Chicago Public Schools suspended its meal distribution program on Sunday, May 31, it followed a weekend of citywide protests in response to the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer. CPS announced the news after 10 PM through its Twitter account, which mirrored the city’s confusing, haphazard response to the protests; that Saturday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared a 9 PM curfew at 8:25 PM, after CTA suspended service to the Loop and the city raised most of downtown’s drawbridges. CPS’s tweet noted the meal-distribution suspension had been “based on the evolving nature of activity around the city.”



  As of its 11th week, the Grab-N-Go provided food and supplies to 3,700 families. Since it’s a volunteer-run program that relies on monetary and food donations, the members of the leadership team planned to run the program down by the end of summer—the Grab-N-Go’s last day for its original iteration was Monday, August 31. “I’m gonna miss talking to people about our mission,” Reynolds-Tyler says. “How we believe that the city of Chicago needs to defund the police, and they need to invest more in community care and community resources, because that is how we prevent violence.” In advance of the final day, a few volunteers spearheaded a new Grab-N-Go endeavor to provide care packages and books for Black and Brown youth on Chicago’s west and south sides; Reynolds-Tyler says they distributed at least 250 books and 230 bags with art supplies.

Dominique James: We looked up the map of the CPS meal sites, and we picked one in our neighborhood. We were like, “OK, this is on a major freeway but also King Drive, so let’s do this one.”

Dominique James: We were a little nervous because it was going to rain. Jihad brought a speaker, we were distributing food, and we put out the call on social media—people brought tons of stuff and we were able to distribute it.

Jihad Kheperu: The community response—just seeing us outside—was so robust, I think everybody really wanted to pitch in, so we got an influx of resources that first week.

Matt Muse: I ended up at one of the meetings that they were having, just ’cause I was getting a ride home with Dom. I was like, “Are y’all OK with me saying what I think about what happened today and how today went?” And they were like, “Yeah.”