End Hunger In Your Community

My name is Caitlin Carmichael, and I am 17 years old. My mom and I live in Los Angeles, CA. When I was 2 years old, Mom and I visited the very first Starbucks Coffee in Seattle, WA. This adventure to the first Starbucks was on her bucket list. She’s been a loyal Starbucks customer as long as I can remember. In 2009, when I was only 4 years old, I signed us up to feed the homeless every Tuesday at our church in Beverly Hills.  I’ve always had a passion for helping the homeless and saw interaction with them as an opportunity to make new friends.  A few years later, I began saying a blessing at each Tuesday meal in our church social hall.  My mom would lift me up on the stage, one of the men would quieten everyone down, and I would pray. The church even let me come up with a new name for our Tuesday meals – rather than calling it “Feeding the Homeless,” I thought it would be better to say “Meals of Blessing.”  I worked almost every Tuesday through 2015. When the program ended at our church, I was heartbroken.

My family is not particularly affluent, but my mom is self-indulgent to treat herself to a Starbucks latte on a regular basis. She even signed up for the Starbucks app so that our coffees and breakfasts would be ready for a quick pick up at the Starbucks closest to our house as we hurry to church on Sunday mornings.  Every Sunday morning, she asks “What do you want to eat this morning?” places the order on the app, and we stop by to pick it up on our way.  We don’t have to wait in line, and the barista calls us by name when we arrive. 

One Sunday morning in August 2016, when I was 12 years old, we met Robert. Robert is a homeless man who camps out by a trash can outside our local Starbucks. When we first met him, my mom offered him some spare change to contribute to a much-needed meal. Then, one Sunday, she didn’t have any cash and felt terrible for not being able to help him. Robert was there, and we had nothing to give despite our desire to do so. Then I said, “How many stars do we have? Can we order Robert something to eat with our Starbucks stars?” My mom loved the idea! Now we know Robert likes the sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich (with no cheese) and the  lemon yogurt parfait. He had heart surgery a couple of months ago and required the aid of a walker for some time. We check on him every Sunday and use our stars to give him breakfast.  He always thanks us with "God bless you."  He doesn't even realize that we're the ones receiving the blessing.