THE BEGINNING
Care on the Square began around 1998. Sue Blair Wagner, who worked downtown, would see homeless people sleeping on the streets over sewer grates to keep warm. Her heart began to feel a call from the Lord to provide a warm sandwich, some hot coffee, and hopefully some words and prayers of encouragement. One day, she asked a friend to come along and together they purchased 10 McDonalds breakfast sandwiches and off they went searching for those men and women who made their home on the streets of Cleveland. They did this several times, and then Sue and her sister Judy began a Christmas tradition of doing the same thing. They would stop and buy McDonalds breakfast sandwiches, make a whole bunch of coffee, and hit the streets looking for the least of these. This continued year after year.
THE EARLY YEARS
In December 2005, Sue and Tom began making sandwiches and coffee out of their home. They headed to Public Square with socks and gloves, and they would open their car and begin serving about 30 people every week. Soon friends from their church (CVC) heard about this and wanted to join them. Both the people serving and being served got larger and larger. Sue and Tom's kitchen was used to prepare soups, their garage to sort clothes, and their driveway to pray before heading down. Before long they outgrew their home and moved everything to their church.
MORE RECENT MILESTONES
Care on the Square began a relationship with the Cleveland Foodbank in
May 2010. They have provided a consistent, quality food source since
this time. The majority of our food is now provided by them. We are
supplemented by weekly donations from Panera Bread and other sources.
In
the fall of 2010, we officially incorporated which included the
creation of a Board of Directors to guide the the ministry. In this
time frame, we also received our own 501C3 approval.
In 2014, motivated by a movie "A Place at the Table" we started a mobile pantry in the Slavic Village area.
In
April 2016 we moved the mobile foodbank to Elizabeth Baptist Church.
This provided a facility that was indoors in the event of inclement
weather.