A back-to-school bash in College Park this weekend represents more than festivities and giveaways for organizers Shawn Perkins and LaKresha Williams.
The women see the event as the first step in building Ask For a Better Life, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding personal development, wellness, workforce training and other supportive services in an underserved College Park neighborhood.
The nonprofit will host a free Back-to-School Bash from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Hampshire Plaza, 2784 Camp Creek Parkway. The event will feature a barbecue cookout, a DJ spinning music, backpack and school-supply giveaways, prizes and vouchers for free haircuts for boys and braiding services for girls.
Perkins, owner of Big Back’s Cajun Kitchen and We R NOLA Smoothie Shop, and Williams said they discovered two years ago that they share a passion for serving the community. Last year, they partnered on a back-to-school event that drew more than 250 children.
Ask For a Better Life is based at Hampshire Plaza, just steps from Perkins’ restaurants. Williams helped to establish the nonprofit and serves as its chief technical and chief financial officer.
While the nonprofit is only steps from Perkins’ restaurants, she hopes to eventually acquire a larger property for the organization, which is envisioned as a multipurpose community resource offering tutoring and educational enrichment for children, wellness and counseling services, professional development and housing for survivors of sex trafficking.
Perkins own childhood helped shape that vision. She grew up in poverty as one of 11 children living in a two-bedroom home in New Orleans. She now plans for her nonprofit to establish a hydroponic growing facility where children can learn to grow their own food.
“I want to show children that they can grow their own food,” Perkins said. “That alone is a big accomplishment for a kid to be able to see.”
The nonprofit was launched as Perkins was navigating a public dispute with College Park officials that she described as a “shakedown.” Last month, she spoke out publicly saying city officials were unfairly trying to shut down her restaurants and prevent her from operating gaming machines. Mayor Bianca Motley Broom publicly supported Perkins, accusing Councilman Joe Carn of weaponizing city employees against the restaurant owner. Perkins said Carn has since apologized, adding that he described the situation as a misunderstanding.
Williams said her commitment to the nonprofit grew out of her political campaign last year for the a College Park city council seat. While campaigning in Ward 2, she said she saw firsthand the challenges facing many children and families. Although she lost the race to Carn, Williams said she decided that, win or lose, she wants to find another way to serve the community.
“We want to really bring a 360-degree type of care to the community,” Williams said. “When we help the youth, we help the families too.”
She continued, “I saw how our kids are not going to school on the first day, or during the first week of school because they are not prepared. They don’t have fresh new clothes. They don’t have all kinds of things because their parents can’t afford it. We want kids to be excited about going back to school.”
Williams said she also hopes the nonprofit will serve as a positive alternative for young people who may be at risk of becoming involved in crime or other harmful situations.
Perkins added that she recognizes the signs of hunger because she lived it.
“I remember going to school hungry. I remember going to bed hungry,” she said. “This is not anything that I am assuming. This is real-life experience.”
