AJ Dewberry, owner of Level 10 Repairs, a cellphone repair company, plans to feed over 1,000 people in Downtown Atlanta with his upcoming 4th Annual Level 10 & Friends Feed the Homeless event, on Sunday, December 20.
The 27-year-old entrepreneur is hosting the event at his shop on 212 Pryor Street Southwest, Atlanta, GA, 30303.
“This year we’re planning bigger and sticking to my facility,” Dewberry said. “Across the street from my store is the homeless shelter. A lot of homeless people in Downtown Atlanta are already familiar with my store. I see them on the daily basis and a lot of them do work for me, like clean my store and take the trash out, so I know a lot of them by first name.”
His store is across the street from Gateway Center, a facility that doesn’t simply provide short-term housing but also works to equip homeless individuals with basic needs such as showers and clothing, job training, financial literacy, and healthcare.
While Dewberry’s Atlanta shop is only a year and a half old, he’s been putting on Level 10 & Friends events since 2017, starting in Woodruff Park feeding approximately 300 people his first year.
The subsequent year, he came back to the park at was able to feed over 450 people.
However, last year the rain kept him from the park and forced him to utilize his own shop as the hosting site for the event. He was able to feed over 600 people that year.
“Last year, it ended up raining at Woodruff Park so we had to come up with a last-minute decision to have it at my Atlanta store that I opened up six months before the food drive. We used my facility to host the food drive and it ended up going better than it would have at the park because we were able to have barbers and a roof over our heads,” Dewberry said.
He also has Waffle House as a returning sponsor, kicking food to help out.
“Waffle house last year donated about 500 chicken and sausage biscuits, including the oil, plates, napkins, spoon, forks, everything. They supplied us with so much food,” Dewberry said.
“But I always came out of my own pocket and bought soul food as well. I had my mom and a few other family members cook dinners as ar as string beans, mashed potatoes, baked chicken.”
In addition to Waffle House, he was able to round up a couple of other sponsors in the community which includes McLendon Law Firm, Been Fly, Bibles & Brunch, Colosso Cuts, The Closet Ratchet, Chef Joe, IMPAID, Naked Nude, DJ C3nturii, and C&P Auto, LLC.
And though this Level 10 & Friends Feed the Homeless event generally happens during the holidays, Dewberry says that he’s interested in helping his community year-round.
He’s recently launched his non-profit organization. Level 10 and Friends Foundation, as a way to bring the community together for a mission to serve and aid the less fortunate.
Also, before creating his foundation, Dewberry provided jobs to individuals with criminal records that prevented them from gaining other means of employment and he furnished scholarships to college students.
“I feel that my purpose is to leave an impact on many people. What motivates me to do the things that I do for the community is the look on people’s faces and the fulfillment that I get from it,” Dewberry said.
