Restaurant Manager Gives Back with "Wingz of Love"

Deborah Bayliss | As of Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Leo Holmes, manager at Chicago Wingz Around the World, 557 E. 75 St., pictured with the boxes of donated shoes for his Sunday event where he provides free food and clothing to those who are homeless or in need.
Leo Holmes, manager at Chicago Wingz Around the World, 557 E. 75 St., pictured with the boxes of donated shoes for his Sunday event where he provides free food and clothing to those who are homeless or in need. Deborah Bayliss

One never knows how the circumstances of their childhood will impact their adult life. For example, a Chatham restaurant manager who experienced homelessness as a child, now gives back to his community every Sunday by donating food he cooks at the restaurant for the homeless and others experiencing food insecurity.

“I started the program about seven months ago,” said Leo Holmes, 41, manager of Chicago Wingz, Around the World, 557 E. 75th St., during a recent afternoon conversation with the Chicago Citizen Newspaper.

An engaging and personable man with a welcoming smile, Holmes, a member of New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, 754 E. 77th St., said he first got the idea to help feed those in need, after being paid by New Covenant Pastor, Rev. Stephen J. Thurston, for work he’d done around the church.

“It was quite a bit of money,” Holmes said. “I did carpentry and some other work around the church and wasn’t expecting to be paid for it. I wanted to use it to help someone else and came up with the idea to buy chicken wings...about $4000 worth from Restaurant Depot and fried them up and then passed them all out.”

Holmes admits that his generosity and giving spirit stems from his childhood.

“I first became homeless when I was 13 years old,” said Holmes. “My six brothers, myself and my mother and father were living with my grandmother and my mom and dad were on drugs real bad and we eventually were kicked out of her house and ended up living in her garage. It was cool to me because we didn’t have a curfew. We lived in that garage for about three months and then moved in with the woman who is now my stepmom.”

Holmes said, the experience made him stronger.

“My heart goes out when I see someone homeless or in need,” he added.

The Wingz staff and others pitch in and help with purchasing the chicken, clothing and shoes that are passed out each Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. at the restaurant.

“People hang out and eat and play board games, checkers, chess and Bid Whist,” Holmes said. “The restaurant owner, Jamie Richards, loves it. We try to make it work for everyone. A lot of young kids show up here with their families. The need is great and things won’t change until we see some policy changes.”

According to information on the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) website, a July 2013 analysis by CCH show, 116,042 Chicagoans were homeless in the course of the 2012-13 school year, ten percent more than the 105,338 people who were homeless a year earlier. The total is based, in part, on the rising enrollment of homeless students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), 90 percent of whom live doubled-up in the homes of others because of hardship.

CPS identified a record 18,669 homeless students in 2012-13, an 8.2 percent increase from the prior year.  Of this, 98.3 percent, were children of color and 20 percent have been diagnosed with disabilities or developmental delays. Homeless students included 2,512 unaccompanied youth, teens who were homeless and living without a parent or guardian.

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Hunger & Homelessness Survey for 2013 (released Dec. 11, 2013), the total number of homeless families increased 11.4 percent during the year-long survey period (through August 2013). Nationally, however, the 25-city survey found homelessness increased an average of 7 percent. City officials projected that the number of individuals and families who are homeless would “increase moderately” during 2014, though city resources would be unchanged.

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