Once homeless himself, he is on a mission to end food insecurity

Dion Dawson knows what hunger feels like and what it means to wait in line for food. He remembers the cold, the hours before the doors opened, and the sense that the people behind the table had already decided who he was. “You’re not treated as if you’re a person. You’re kind of a number,” he told CNN. And the food was mostly canned, processed or unhealthy.

He is familiar with the struggle. In 2020, he decided to change that. The Englewood man started a non-profit called ‘Dion’s Chicago Dream’. The vision was simple: instead of giving people leftover or donated canned food, he buys fresh fruit and vegetables and delivers them directly to families. Now, the dream has grown into something bigger: he helps feed more than 5,400 households every week.As a kid, he had no favourite fruitDawson grew up in Englewood, on Chicago’s South Side.

His family was often homeless, and some days they ate only once. Food pantries kept them going, but what they handed out was mostly canned goods and processed food. “I didn’t have a favourite fruit growing up,” he told the outlet.