Hi, I'm Hermene Hartman with N'digo Studio.

And today we're going to look at solutions rather than problems.

We're talking to a talented young man who's beating the odds by serving his community.

He's from Chicago's Englewood community.

Born and raised there, he has initiated social change for the improvement and the betterment of the community.

His name, Deon Dawson.

He's the CEO and founder of Deon Chicago Dream.

That includes Project Dream Fridge.

What they do.

They distribute fresh fruits, vegetables and water to the Englewood community that otherwise might go to waste.

We're talking to him because he is young, he is gifted, he is black, and he is of service to his community.

Solving the problem, the problem about the food desert.

Join the conversation.

-Cozy conversation.

Drop the knowledge That's for real.... Funding for this program was provided by... Community Trust, the Field Foundation, Commonwealth Edison, Blue Cross, Blue Shield and the Illinois State Lottery.

So we're talking to Mr. Don Dawson.

He is from the Englewood community, has been in the Navy right out of high school.

That's correct.

And where were you when you were in the Navy?

Right after basic training, I went to the president's hospital, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

And then after that, I went to the USS Harry Truman, a carrier in Norfolk, Virginia.

Wow.

You didn't you didn't treat Trump for cold blooded.

Oh, no, no, no.

Thank you.

We'll go back on and I'm going back there.

So tell me about Dream Friends.

This sounds so exciting.

It's new.

It's innovative.

Tell me about Dream Fridge.

Project Dream fridge it was pretty much initially.

The idea comes from a mutual aid project where it's put up in a community, the community for each.

And you require the the neighbors and the residents to fill it.

And so.

This free this a refrigerator that's a. Fridge right in the middle of Englewood.

Okay.

So originally when I went, I was looking for something every day thing.

I came across this idea and I told my wife, I said, I have to do this.

And how did you how did you come across?

I was looking on social media.

I was on Instagram, and I told I told my wife, I said, I need to find something that's an everyday thing.

And I think when you saw when you want to solve a multifaceted problem, you have to have a multifaceted solution.

And so of course you can have events and things like that.

But I needed something every day.

I needed something that, no matter what, it required me to be there.

And I saw this and I saw that it took off in California and it was taking off across the world and in New York.

And I said, I have to do this.

I told my wife, I said, We got to get going.

And I reached out to a few organizations that assisted me.

But the difference in their model and mine is that theirs is focused on mutual aid.

And in the Inglewood community, there's there's not a lot.

And so if I put this thing up and it requires already struggling neighborhoods to fill it, it will just be something else is empty.

So there's a fridge?

Yes.

In the heart of Englewood.

Where is it located to?

Off the corner of 5700 South Racine.

It's a it's just a refrigerator fridge.

Inside of a shed.

Inside of it.

To protect it from the elements.

And you fill it with food?

Yes.

Every morning.

Well, it's an important morning.

Fruits and vegetables and water for free.

So right now, the the menu is something that's cost effective, but it's something that the residents respond to.

You know what I mean?

So you've got bananas, bananas, apples, oranges, berries, strawberries.

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, water, carrots, things like that.

Okay.

So I want to go there.

And what do I do?

Do I pay?

Do I?

Oh.

So you just try to get there early because, you know, right now, this is out of pocket.

It goes quick.

Yes.

Yes.

So, I mean, the goal is for it to go.

You know what I mean?

And when we open up at nine, there's already a group there, you know, that's waiting sometimes I tell them to they'll say age is good enough to last you till today because we'll be here tomorrow, okay?

And allow everybody to police themselves.

This thing, it's not going to be something that's taught immediately.

But it's important for me to to give that trust back to the community.

And the second thing is just make sure they have their mask on, because a lot of the people who are using the fridge is in that demographic range that's at risk for COVID.

Right.

So if they don't have a mask and say, let me know, I can get you one.

Other than that, you know, I just kind of wait til I'm done after that.

All of the bags that I use to carry the food in, I congregate them in one big bag and they get they get the food.

That's it.

Okay, So I'm a single lady.

So I come and I get I just want some strawberries.

Yes.

Then there's a lady who's got two kids and she wants 4 pounds of strawberriesand some letters and some carrots.

You can just get what you want as you see fit.

I mean, Yes.

And the biggest thing is, is us policing ourselves as a as a whole, instead of me standing there saying, hey, you can't do this.

Because the first day it was it was a grab.

Everybody is like, oh, I got to get this.

It was not.

But as as the days have gone on, everybody has bought into this concept of, okay, just enough for today.

You know what I mean?

If you have two kids that you want to grab some strawberries and things like that, I encourage it.

So you teach them how to shop like they do in Europe.

You know, you're going.

Yeah.

You get every day.

Every day.

Okay, so it's free.

Yes.

And I can.

I can take as I see fit as I need.

Okay.

How do you get the food?

Where's food come from?

Where I can get it.

I go shopping every morning.

I wake up at five.

So you actually go to the store?

Yes.

Buy food?

Yes, ma'am.

From a grocer?

Yes, ma'am.

And then bring it to the fridge where you get your money from donors myself.

It doesn't matter.

I won't let it fail.

So I'll do whatever I have to like.

It just is not an option.

Okay, so you have a saying that says I am money.

Yes.

Okay.

What that means.

Is it means that I'm confident in my ability to do what whatever my goal is.

And so for me, the reason why this thing, this this movement is happening is because this is 100% of my attention.

And so I just know the money because I have the background, I have the training, I have the the the awareness.

I have everything that's required to make this thing as big as I know it can be.

Okay.

So from the models that you've looked at, you've modeled this after something loosely, something that you saw on Instagram.

Okay.

Tell me about what you saw and what that experience was.

So when I saw it is community fridge, it is in a lot of the neighborhoods throughout the US especially that are struggling and a lot of a lot of those communities are black and brown communities and it requires mutual aid to be filled.

And I just knew that.

I mean, I'm from Englewood.

I know Englewood.

And so because of that, I know that if I set this thing up and and require a struggling neighborhood to fill it does not really require me to do anything else.

And so I could get a pat on the back and say, I, I put this thing right there.

But it is different when I require myself to stay disciplined and come every day to give people the the chance to to not only think that hope is just for TV, because that's how you feel.

Growing up in Inglewood.

You feel like you see these things, these special things happen to people.

But it is.

External.

Exactly.

And so for me, I just I wanted the difference to be me being there every day.

And not only that, but but having these these interactions and these relationships, because that's what community is.

Community is, is not just being, but is knowing.

And so knowing these names of these people and knowing these places, the same people that when me and my brothers will play basketball two one in the morning knowing that they wouldn't harm us because we were familiar faces.

So just trying to be that.

Tell me about food insecurity.

What's what's the concept of that?

So you have hunger and food insecurity, but a lot of people juxtapose the two because, of course, there are people who are hungry and food insecurity is also not really knowing where your meal will come from.

So there are a lot of different things that affect whether or not a person eats that day, you know what I mean?

And so for me, I'm not just trying to throw money at a problem.

I'm throwing myself at it because I know that I've experienced a lot of different things that give that.

It gives me the perspective that other people don't have.

And so I take my my experience from being a hungry and food insecure child in Englewood, being evicted, having a mom who struggled with substance abuse and and taking that and then also taking being an adult and growing up in the military.

After I left after high school and then also now being a husband and a father.

So I have all of these a myriad of things that that gives me a leg up on other people, too, to not only notice what like the problems and notice the solutions, but understanding that that you have to be delicate in how you approach it.

Sensitive?

Yes, of.

Course.

So is food insecurity hungry or is it just un-knowing?

I mean, all of it is together, though.

So hunger is, you know, actually being hungry.

Food insecurity deals with, you know, the uncertainty in eating and not having the proper resources with Englewood being a food desert.

So all of these things is just on top of each other.

For Englewood, you have a high unemployment rate, you have high crime, you have, you know, drugs.

I mean, it's so much, you know what I mean?

And so and then you have Corona just around all of that.

And so so you have this storm of just a lot of different things.

And so just trying to make sure that when it comes to solving that problem, making sure that that you're really ready, that really like stand tall in helping people.

And that's just for me, it's easy.

It just reminds me of when I was ten years old.

I always tell people the moment it kind of changed for me.

I was ten years old and it was a time when everybody would come to my house.

You know, as a kid, you go to this person's house.

That person was your.

House was to hang.

I don't know.

It was this day.

It was this specific day.

It was just my turn.

Oh, and we left school and we were walking up and at that moment we were getting evicted.

And and it always stands out to me, not because we were getting evicted, but because what my friends did like afterward, they didn't we didn't mope around.

I didn't feel sad myself.

They helped me move the stuff over an alley and we play basketball.

And that that thing sticks with me.

And I still have those friends to this day.

And I thank them because I'm not embarrassed by anything.

I've been in crazy situations and and because of it, it equipped me with this tool bag that allows me where some people only have a screwdriver and a hammer.

I just have everything and I have all of these things that I bulldoze and I have everything got everything.

And and because of it, it it I will I was lucky enough to to interact with empathy and and all these different emotions that I was able to unpack and develop as I got older.

So sensitivity.

Exactly.

And so it gave me this the just the sixth sense to just know how to treat people, but also be aware of when I'm not in the right space to withdraw.

So I won't treat anybody bad, you know.

So the food, food, fridge is two months old.

Yes.

Where do you go and get your food?

You go to the wholesale district and get your food.

Where where do I mean?

I go anywhere.

I try.

I go to Walmart.

A lot of I even talk to them about funding.

They haven't gotten back to me yet.

As far as just like partnering.

I think.

Are they responsive?

Oh, I mean, the process itself, I haven't heard anything, but I can't wait.

What I want people to do is I want people to to interact with my brand and to go to my website, to go to my social media page.

And they don't see something that's old.

That's what we've seen.

But a lot of.

This is fresh food.

Yes.

This is every day I go every day, 5:00 in the morning.

Do you work with the farmer's market?

Some some of them.

But the problem is, is buying in bulk and I have storage.

And so it because of storage, until I get to that point, I'll just go every day.

I'll do whatever I can and I'm I'm totally fine with it.

Okay.

So do you want to expand to other neighborhoods?

The fridge is just one part of the conversation.

I mean, we do we we also have different events that we've done in the past handing out hot food, rent, an ice cream truck on a hot day.

I mean, this is just to start the conversation because I, I don't want anybody to have any any question about what I'm doing when I'm doing it and how dedicated I am.

And so I have this thing, this fridge is an everyday thing, and then I have weekly or bi weekly events where, where for Halloween we just did this event where we walk door to door to give candy to the children, to just encourage them to stay safe from COVID and violence, you know, especially doing it during that time of day, which is in the early evening.

And so it really gives us a chance to not only meet our neighbors and put and put their face out there, but just to show them that every day is not just about, you know, that meal.

It's about, you know, interpersonal relationships.

It's about wondering what do you want to be when you grow up?

All of these things play a part and play off of each other.

You want to get beyond the immediacy.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So what's the response from the community?

How you feel about Project Dream for another man?

It's beautiful, girl.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Okay.

I need this for food.

This is a blessing.

Hope for me is the hospitality.

Is that them expecting it?

And that's what I love.

I love when.

When I was just opening it the other day, when it was raining and one of the residents held the umbrella for me while I.

While I loaded the fridge and and me just that that is something that that you can't really quantify.

It's something that.

Where did you get your refrigerator from?

You you're talking about a fridge you like you have at home.

Are you talking about a commercial.

Oh we're talking about a fridge that, that you just have at home.

I bought it in a we are paid for someone to build the shed and then pretty much got it.

Got it.

Painted by Englewood based muralist from our collective because it's important for me for everything about this project to be Englewood based.

And so after that, the sheriff food and liquor gave us free electricity for the fridge.

And then you got to believe that these things can happen.

I just know that that is going to work.

I don't I have no doubt in me.

You have no doubt.

None, it's going to work.

You are successful and it's going to be very, very, very successful.

So now you doing this fresh fruit?

Yes.

You've been open for two months.

Yes.

Have you had theft?

Yes.

Well, not that well.

Somebody broke in.

They broke in, Yes.

Broken to a free.

Free that was closed for the night is free.

And they.

Broke.

Yes.

Yes.

But there was nothing else because the food was gone.

And it's funny because I point to my team every day the power of positive thinking.

And I don't focus on what we can't do and the people that aren't for us, I just try to focus on that.

And so that day I, I drove up with the expectation of everything being okay, and that's why I messed up instead of just letting me lend the day come to me like I normally do.

And it was broken into and I was hurt.

And my vice president now, Liam, my mom, they look at me, say, It's okay.

And I left that day.

I'm like, okay, it's okay.

I start telling myself it's okay.

And I went to buy a drill to try to fix it.

And I came back and another resident while I was doing fixed it.

His corporate Chicago helped you?

I'm thinking of the big food exchange that we.

Saying saying Costco.

We've had actually the Field Foundation.

We've had True Star Foundation response.

So it that's why some move from movement because once you see this thing and once you interact with this thing and what we're doing, you can't look away after that.

Okay.

So somebody looking at this program.

Yes.

Who wants to donate or who wants to assist in some kind of way, give them some instructions as to what they can do.

So, I mean, they can either contact myself through email or on my website.

Go to what's the website the websites.

www.dionchicagodream.com Okay and what you want a donor to do is money or do you want do you want them to give you.

Food.

I would I would encourage money not just going on a website and then for me I have no problem.

Some people who donate I've sent receipts to a woman's attributed them and tag them on social media.

I try to make this thing as transparent as possible because that's what's happened with philanthropy in the last couple of decades, where it became this cloud, it being or people trying to gain from it.

When that's not the case.

I just want to get the resources and the food to the people that need it.

And I'll do whatever I can to make that happen.

Okay.

So next year, this time with some growth, some development, what's your expansion?

Oh, we're we're going to open the Dream Center.

What's the dream?

So there's going to be is going to be the Dream Center of Inglewood.

And the Dream Center of Inglewood will house not only three community fridges, but it will also house a lot of different things, like a fully stocked photo studio for creatives in Englewood to come use if they only have their cell phone.

Because we know photographers nowadays use their cell phone.

That is photography.

Exactly.

Oh, we're also going to have a few office spaces that will be fully stocked with computers and printers just for Englewood based business owners to come and use that if they can't afford a place of their own.

We're going to have cubicles, we're going to have work pods.

I mean, anything that's necessary for the betterment of Englewood.

It's not just about feeding them.

It's about bettering them.

It's about making them feel empowered enough in this shifting society.

Will you will that will that focus on the youth or will they focus on everybody?

Everybody?

We have people who become photographers when they're 60.

So for me, who am I to tell somebody that they're not a photographer?

The only thing I want to do is make sure that we have that space for them to be whatever they want to be.

So do you think okay, so you have you have a refrigerator that is really for like a home, interior refrigerator.

Yes.

You think you'll grow and get a commercial refrigerator eventually.

From an inside the Dream Center?

Yes.

Right.

And that's what they will be.

They will be commercial.

We'll be open to Dream Center.

So we talked about you've kind of modeled this and some other cities have done it.

Some other American urban cities have done it.

-Yes!

-New York California reached out to them.

I mean, they've reached out and told me they appreciate what I'm doing.

And I've also reached out and told them to keep going because the biggest thing is it's not hard to be a good person.

That's the thing is it takes no effort at all.

We just wake up and we we gravitate towards happiness, toward the things that are good.

It takes a lot more to be a bad or negative person.

And so for me, I just I told myself I need to start building that muscle memory of loving, appreciating and leading.

If I do that now, as this thing grows, it will already be in me to always do that.

So you talk about the simple things.

Yes.

Tell me about the simple things.

What do you mean by the simple things?

And what are the simple things?

The simple things is is the hand word that we're dealt every day.

So if a person knows how to play Spades, what they do is you get your hand and you hope that you have a handful of Spades, but sometimes you won't.

Sometimes the highest card you have, your hand is a nine or ten and a lot of people get shook by the idea of there being spades and jokers and an ace is out there.

But for me, I'm just worried about doing the best I can.

But it's not because that's what's in my power.

Is that a simple thing?

Yes.

Yes.

Give me another example of a simple thing.

Just telling people you love, just telling people you appreciate them.

You really mean simple things.

Oh, that's that's the driving force behind everything.

Everybody in my life that I love, I tell them that men, women, children, like I tell them I have to.

I have to tell them I love them so they can know that.

So Will will dream fridge go to other communities after you achieve the success that you're happy with, comfortable with in Englewood, will you go to other communities in the city?

For me, it will.

It will graduate until multiple dream fridges in our dream center.

But right now for me, I'm just focused on Englewood.

And that's the thing.

The the the next step is not necessarily branching out to other communities, but branching out into other concepts in Englewood, because there are so many things that are around just Chicago.

There are so many great concepts on the North Side that make the North side what it is.

I want to bring that to Englewood, and I'm the perfect person to do it.

So let me tell you what I was thinking.

You know, on the West side, do you realize they don't have grocery store.

Yet in Englewood?

You know, no grocery.

You have you got Whole Foods.

Up to that.

But of a Whole Foods that that's.

And we're thankful for them but that's the only thing.

So have some some business men business women some of the business people may be in Englewood or outside Englewood, for that matter.

Have they have they tried to help you?

Oh, definitely.

I mean, it's been an amazing response and there's been a fresh breath of unity.

So I have raised the resident association of Greater Englewood.

That's been an amazing resource.

I have Englewood Brand branded clothing line, an amazing boutique there that's been supportive, like I like everything that I'm doing is to ultimately get to the day when I can have this location that can be a safe haven, because that's the thing it's about safety, too, is when when you're talking about feeding people in Englewood and you also talking about protecting them, you're also talking about loving them.

So are you working with churches?

Yes.

Yes.

So I have some religious leaders that have reached out, told them, whatever you need for me, just let me know.

Actually, in the process of developing a web series where we're actually going to take one person and try to change their day, kind of like a Publisher's Clearing house play where one day we approach somebody.

If I hear you correctly, what you're really, really, really, really doing is saying to the community of Englewood dream.

Yes.

Not not just this way, but let's give you some security with food.

Ms.. And kill the food inside.

Yes, but let's do some other things.

It could be photography, it could be art, it could be a mural, it could be.

De Do you work with the Kennedy King College?

Just started that.

Relationship.

Okay.

You know, they have a culinary school dream.

And this hope is is just believing that The biggest thing is when I started, there's so many people telling me, like, you can't do that, and that's okay for anybody else.

But in order for me to have a legacy that I'm comfortable with, I have to leave it all on the floor.

And if I'm going to leave it all on the floor, I have to have people feel how I feel.

Because when I'm doing this, I feel untouchable.

I feel like when I dream, I don't think about I don't ever consider whether or not I can't do it.

It's about how because you live in your dream.

Exactly.

When I talked to BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois last week, something she one of their representatives, let's look out to me.

She she said, Katie, she said, you sound like an unstoppable force and you won't take no for an answer.

This is a fabulous idea.

And five years from now you've expanded it.

And where are you?

I am five years.

So we are we have already opened up our dream center of Englewood, and we are probably branching out to the public dream Center of West Baltimore, something like that.

Let's let's let's change.

We'll do everything.

If the mayor or the governor or maybe the Cook County president.

When.

When I looking at this right now.

Yes.

What would you tell them that they could do to help?

You told them to go to www.dionchicagodream.com start that dialog because once that dialog is started and once you put your eyes on this beautiful thing, you won't take your eyes off of it because everything about this is the real deal.

We're not just hoping to do something, we're doing something.

We're there every day and this is the quality of data that people base million dollar decisions off of.

Okay, Dion, thank you.

I wish you the very best.

Likewise.

We got to get a large refrigerator, we got to get some commercial refrigeration and we got to get maybe some of these large food stores.

Definitely the jewels, the Osco's, the schools, the Costcos, Mariano's.

Yes.

To be supported, Aldi and maybe our shop, the farmers markets.

I love the farmers markets because I love the freshness of the food.

So maybe you could work some with some of these farmer markets to come in and to and to do something because they do sometimes have a surplus.

And we will take it.

Do you know about the ugly, the ugly food?

Have you ever heard about that?

No.

So you know how you go to the store and you want the perfect red apple or the perfect green apple?

So the ugly food is it didn't come out perfect.

It's nothing wrong with it.

It's still good.

But you might work in some is still good.

Dion, thank you.

Congratulations on what you do.

And I wish you the very, very best.

And thank you.

And I'm glad you're here, too.

You two months.

So we'll talk next year this time and see how you've how you've grown and how you've prospered.

And I wish you the best and most success.

And to you, too.

And thank you for being with us this evening to learn about Dream Fridge.

"MUSIC" For more information about this show, visit or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

Funding for this program was provided by Community Trust, the Field Foundation, Commonwealth Edison, Blue Cross, Blue Shield and the Illinois State Lottery.

Blue Cross, Blue Shield and the Illinois State Lottery.

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