Editor’s note: “Who is Syracuse?” is a series that runs in The Daily Orange every spring. It highlights individuals who embody the spirit of Syracuse. Members of the community were encouraged to nominate people they thought fit this description. This series explores their stories.

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he people congregating near the intersection of Dickerson Street and South Clinton Street on the morning of April 20 were there for a variety of reasons. Under a beige bridge in downtown Syracuse, volunteers passed out T-shirts, socks, sweatshirts, books, hygiene kits and food.

“Keep warm!” a volunteer said as she handed a man a sweatshirt.

A group of about 100 people stretched 30 yards. They were young children, families, single parents and grandparents lined up at about 11 a.m., there for what has become an every-week affair over the past three years: Sandwich Saturday.

Justin Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” boomed from a portable stereo system as dozens of volunteers, who’d assembled sandwiches, food and clothing kits earlier in the morning, passed out goods to people in need. One by one, people walked from one table to the next, picking up food and supplies to take with them.

The space underneath railroad tracks had been overlooked and barren. Now it was a safe haven, thanks to a local resident with a bold plan for ending hunger and poverty in Syracuse. Al-amin Muhammad, 47, founded the nonprofit organization, We Rise Above the Streets Recovery Outreach, to curtail hunger and homelessness in Syracuse. In year four, the programs are grounded not in policy or monetary donations but in concrete answers to some of the issues facing central New York.

He’s driven by a hope that stems from within. Muhammad himself once was in a gang, went to prison and lived on the streets. With that in mind, he believes others can emulate his life path to recovery.

He knows there are about 553,000 people who are homeless in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2018 Annual Homeless Assessment Report. In 2017, an estimated one in eight U.S. citizens were food insecure, equating to 40 million people, including about 12 million children. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. The issues are monumental in Syracuse, where the poverty rate sits at 32.4 percent, according to U.S. Census data.

Muhammad started by making sandwiches out of his home. As word spread via Facebook and word of mouth, he launched Sandwich Saturday. More donors dropped off food and clothing. Several volunteers said they joined after they noticed his program on Facebook or online, and they wanted to help a few hours per week. Joan Buckley, a volunteer from East Syracuse, said Muhammad’s story inspired her to volunteer virtually every Saturday morning — in the cold, rain and snow.

 

Muhammad’s rise to being one of the area’s more impactful volunteers is rooted in self-doubt and rebelliousness. Born in Haiti, he and his family moved to Chicago when he was five. As a teenager, he joined the Gangster Disciples, a criminal gang from the South Side of Chicago. After his parents divorced, Muhammad said, he became more involved in the gang and took on a leadership position. He was shot several times, he said, and served a one-year prison sentence related to selling cocaine.

Around 2008, a conversation with a prison inmate inspired him to convert from Catholicism to Islam. The man asked him, “If you die today, what legacy would you leave for your daughter?” Muhammad recalls crying because he didn’t have an adequate answer. “I thought about everything I did,” Muhammad said, and he realized there wasn’t much for which he’d be known. He said he needed to be transformed.

After prison, from 2008 to 2012, he lived on the streets and in Atlanta shelters. Without a job or vision, he thought about jumping off an overpass and ending his life, Muhammad said. Sometimes he slept under bridges — and he now serves the homeless population under one. In Atlanta, though, he walked into a soup kitchen and got involved in the Open Door Community, a former outreach program.

The experience molded him and forced him to adapt. Considering his former inmate’s words, he spent his honeymoon volunteering. In Syracuse, what began with sandwiches out of his home has grown into much more. In the winter, locals said the Saturday events function as a community space for a meal and hot chocolate — a reprieve from the cold. Muhammad has turned his attention to the summer, looking for summer clothing donations. He’ll lead his third annual cookout on May 25.

The past three years have shown onlookers the power of unity and philanthropy, volunteers said. Muhammad has a system for distributing food and clothing that he hopes will continue to swell in size. While his effort is relatively small, he believes in his approach and wants to one day open a facility for the homeless — complemented with a sit-down eatery, showers, barbers and agencies. He wants to end homelessness in the city of Syracuse, creating a model that other communities can emulate.

On a recent Saturday, Muhammad walked away from the tables, toward the end of the line, where he saw men and women standing. They were waiting, with empty bags in hand, to select goods to take home. The air was leaden with food smells. Muhammad didn’t linger, though.

“You see the need out here,” he said, surveying the crowds. “You see the need out here.” And he kept walking, ensuring that nobody left hungry, that nobody left empty-handed.

Photo by Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Published on April 23, 2019 at 11:03 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21