Inspiring Conversations with Carrol Givens of Mrs. B’s Table

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrol Givens.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Mrs. Beryl (the company’s namesake) was my grandmother, who lived in Jamaica. Growing up in Jamaica, we didn’t have much, but many had less than us. My grandmother’s house was known amongst the community as a place to get something to eat. My grandmother raised her kids, Grandkids, great-grandkids, and plenty of kids who didn’t have a home. This is the environment I grew up in; always help someone in need regardless of how little you have.

My grandmother passed away while I was on Deployment in the military. While I never got to say goodbye to her, I knew that she wanted me to continue what she was doing, feeding those in need.

While feeding someone satisfies their basic needs, it does so much more. It reassures their faith in humanity. It gives them the courage to keep going. It provides a network, a community that they can reach out to.

While we are a new Nonprofit, our work has grown, and the number of people and pets we serve has increased.

We started with distributing meals. Now we are working with other non-profit organizations such as Foundation for Changes, Military Women Collective, and small businesses in the community to help build up our community.

In addition to the meal distributions, we now offer Veteran specific programs, community building, and Giveback programs (which include groceries for low-income families and toys for individuals who cannot afford to give their child(ren) toys for birthdays or holidays) and our newest program Mrs. B’s Room for the night, where we serve as an emergency resource for hotel rooms for individuals with children who are displaced after the shelters have closed.

We’re currently trying to raise funds to purchase a catering van to increase the number of individuals we can feed monthly.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The process itself was straightforward. Some has even said that starting a nonprofit is complex, and the fact I was able to complete the entire process in two months is unheard of. That, to me, is reassurance that this is my mission and purpose.

The struggle that we face now is funding. We require funding to get the hotel vouchers. We need funding to purchase a catering van that can keep the hot meals warm and the water and juice cold.

I hope this article will bring awareness to the good we do in the community, and they will want to help.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Mrs. B’s Table?
Our mission is to fight hunger scarcity by using home-cooked meals as a bridge to combat homelessness. We strive to provide the unhoused population access to the resources they need to become self-sufficient if they choose to. We aspire to strengthen our communities by partnering with local businesses to offer grocery and bill payment assistance to veterans and low-income families to remove additional barriers that can aid in homelessness.

Each month we take to the streets and distribute home-cooked meals and care bags for individuals living on the streets or in their cars.

What sets us apart from other organizations is that we offer meals. For March, we distributed Cajun shrimp pasta with salad and dinner rolls. We baked chicken, stuffing, vegetables, and mac and cheese for Thanksgiving. These are some of the meals we have prepared, and each month it’s different.

We use the time we spend to get to know each person we are feeding and build a relationship to effectively reach them with the resources they need to take the next step.

Our slogan is making the Invisible visible. I want the readers to know that most of us are one to two paychecks away from being in a similar position. So have compassion; not everyone is on the streets because they are drug addicts or don’t want to work.

Individuals can find us on Find Help, Unite Us, and Google if they need assistance.

We are certified Food rescuers through Food Finders. That means we can collect leftover food from meetings, birthday parties, and all events. Once we rescue the food, we package and donate them to homeless individuals.

We have a Father’s Day Spades and Dominoes Fundraising Tournament on June 17, 2023, in Murrieta. The cost for the tournament tickets is $60 until April 20th. Then it will be $80, and food and a swag bag are included! It will be a fun-filled adults-only event to raise funds for our programs. The grand prize is $250, and we have many raffle prizes. We would love to see everyone attend!

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We have learned that our community is there for us. We have been able to lean on our community partners to help us.

I would like to especially thank Wildomar Grocery Outlet for providing the groceries for our meal distribution.

World Centric for providing the containers and utensils for our meals.

IEHP for Sponsoring our care bags.

Donna B’s Catering for always being there to help cook and for Sponsoring the dinner for our Spades and Dominoes Fundraising Tournament.

Neals Party rentals for helping with our meal distribution in January.

Rose Soiree for assisting us with our March meal distribution in San Diego

Elaborate Events by FeFe for providing the decorations for our Spades and Dominoes Fundraising Tournament.

There are so many individuals that help our Non-profit thrive. And we are utterly grateful for each and every one of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mrsbtable.org/
• Instagram: Instagram.com/mrs_B_table
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrol-givens
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/5HLfwrB8uyb
• Other: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/084a80a7-ffc9-4259-8fab-95ce3b143a81

Image Credits
IG: bbfamilyphotography IG: WashingtonStudioslnternational