Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carrol Givens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Carrol, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

My whole life is made up of risky decisions I was uncertain about. However, each of those risks brought me to where I am today. The first significant risk I took that put me on this last was dropping out of the University of Connecticut (UCONN), where I have a full scholarship, to join the Navy.

The second significant risk I took was getting out of the Navy. I had no job lined up, and I had a family I was supporting. However, I needed to be with my daughter, and the military was getting in the way.

The next considerable risk I took was leaving my job in the aerospace field. Once again, I had no job lined up, but this time I had a new husband supporting our family and was okay with me not working. I was unemployed for two years; I spent that time traveling and being a full-time mom. That’s when I received my calling, my purpose in life.

I dreamed I was supposed to feed people experiencing homelessness, and I woke up, talked to my husband, and filed for my EIN that morning. That’s how Mrs. B’s Table was founded. We’re coming up on our first anniversary in business, and it has been a blessing the amount of support we have received and the number of people we have helped.

So I say: Take the risk, it might be scary now but what’s waiting for you at the end will be more rewarding. This is how I was ables to get to this point. The point where my passion and purpose intersects.

Carrol, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Jamaica and raised in Connecticut. Attended The University of Connecticut for one year then joined the Navy. I was in the Navy for 6 years. After I left the military I finished my bachelors of science in Psychology and I finished my MBA. I am married to Travious who is still active duty and I have two beautiful highschool girls Kaylee and Tramiya.

Before we can talk about Mrs. B’s Table, we have to talk about Mrs. B. Mrs. Beryl (the company’s namesake) was my grandmother who lived in Jamaica. Growing up in Jamaica we didn’t have much, but there was many that had less than us. My grandmother’s house was know amongst the community as a place you can get something to eat.
My grandmother raised her kids, Grandkids, great-grand kids and plenty of kids who didn’t have a home. This is the environment I grew up in always help someone in need regardless of how little you have.

My grandmother passed away while I was on Deployment in the military. While I never got to say goodbye to her, I knew that she wanted me to continue what she was doing. Feeding those in need.

While feeding someone satisfies their basic needs, it does so much more. It reassures their faith in humanity. It gives them courage to keep going. It provides a network, a community that they can reach out to.

Mrs B’s Table fights hunger scarcity by using home-cooked meals as a bridge to combat homelessness. We strive to provide the unhoused population access to the resources they need to become self-sufficient if they choose to. We aspire to strengthen our communities by partnering with local businesses to offer grocery and bill payment assistance to veterans and low-income families to remove additional barriers that can aid in homelessness.

While we are a new Nonprofit out work has grown and the people and pets we serve have increased.

We started with distributing meals. Now we are working with other non-profit organizations, and small business in the community to help build up our community.

In addition to the meal distributions we now offer Veteran specific programs, community building and Giveback programs (which includes groceries for low-income families, and toys for individuals who cannot afford to give their child(ren) toys for birthdays or holidays),

We have two new programs. Mrs. B’s Room for the night where we provide emergency after hours hotels vouchers for individuals with children that are displaced after shelters have closed. Our other program is Veterans Corner. We partner with a PFC Farms in Hemet and host therapeutic Farming for veterans and individuals that suffer from PTSD, anxiety and other ailments.

We are always looking for volunteers, Sponsors, and partnership with business owners. If you’re interested in any of these feel free to reach out to us at MrsBTable.org

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

This is a good question because as a Non-profit we actually didn’t start with any capital. Especially since the idea to start the Non-profit came out of thin air and there was no planning involved.

I knew I was going to feed the unhoused. So I was prepared to use my own money to fund it. That translated to making spaghetti. You can feed a lot of people with only spending a little. We scouted out grocery stores and wholesale stores for supplies, pot pans, noodles, sauce and containers.

After we purchased all the ingredients I decided this was going to cost a lot each month, even if it’s just spaghetti. I reached out to the company that owned the food containers (World Centric) to see if they provided donations for nonprofit organizations. They informed me they did and we still use them for our meal packaging and utensils.

With the cost of groceries on the rise I knew that I needed to partner with a grocery store so I can provide healthier and a larger variety of meals. That’s when I met Marc and Carlos the owners of the Grocery Outlet in Wildomar. They have truly been a blessing! They sponsor our monthly meals each month!

We knew that we wanted to distribute care bags. So we started submitting donation request letters. We sent emails, did cold calls, and showed up to businesses with no meeting set up. Luckily we were able to partner with local businesses to help us. Some of the businesses are Root Fruit Catering, Neals Party rentals, Altura Credit union, Target (Menifee and Murrieta), Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Murrieta, Elaborate Events by Fefe, IEHP, and so much more!

Our small and large businesses support us. With this said we have been lucky and blessed to not need a lot of capital or have spent a lot of money out of our own pockets. The benefit of having a nonprofit is that these companies are not only doing an amazing thing for the betterment of the community, they are able to use it as a tax write off.

We would not have made it without our community to support us.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I have so many stories. When we do our meal distributions, we take the time to ask them if there is anything they need and how we can help. That simple act lights up their faces because someone cares.

One of my favorite stories is actually the inspiration for our Mrs. B’s Room for the night program.

I received a phone call around 9:30pm. Typically I am already sleeping and my phone is on DND. However I couldn’t sleep and I was scrolling through social media when my phone light up from the incoming call. I didn’t answer since I was laying in bed and my husband was already asleep. I text the phone number saying”I’m sorry I missed your call, how can I help you” The person responded they were looking for a shelter. I told her that “Unfortunately shelters stop the intake process at 4 pm the latest”. I went into the loft to call her so I do the intake form via the phone, but more importantly reassure her that I was going to do everything in my power to help her. When I called I found out she had her son with her.
They were put out and now living in their car.

I told her I would look into some programs that are available and call her back. I called 211 to try and get her a hotel voucher, unfortunately they didn’t have any available that she qualified for.

So I called her back and told her to meet me at the hotel. My father and I packed up some bags with necessities and snacks and headed to the hotel. Once we arrived at the hotel we checked them in and provided them with resources for shelters that she could possibly get into the next day.

The next day I followed up with her and she was getting the runaround. So I reached out to a shelter that we worked with in the past and they were able to get her an intake appointment that same day!

I spoke with my husband who is our CFO of the organization. He told me he had some clothes that would fit her son. He gave me A lot of the clothes were brand new with tags and even a pair of Air force, a pair of Jordans and a pair of Yeezy! I took the items along with some more essential items to the hotel after he was out of school. He was so excited to see that they were his size and that they were his! The simile on his face lit up the room! His mom was so happy, she told me he hasn’t smiled like that in a long time.

The day continued with more good news! Her and her son were able to move into the shelter the next morning! We extend the hotel for one more night so they could have somewhere to sleep.

We followed up with her and found out she needed assistance with her resume. She said it was outdated. I met up with her to get her job history in order to create
a new resume. Her last job on the resume was from 2009 and she worked 2 more jobs since then. I created her resume and sent it to her for her review/approval. She was shocked and asked if that was her resume. I chuckled and asid yes that’s all you! She has since been on 2 interviews and is awaiting her second interview for one of the jobs she applied to!

We’re currently working with another organization to get he out of the shelter and into an apartment of her own.

This is one of my favorite stories because it has a happy ending. And it all started with something simple as answering the phone.

We don’t realize how much we have the ability to change someone’s life for the better, just by simply being there and taking a call. Sometimes when you find yourself doing something out of the ordinary, it’s because you’re needed to do something. You just don’t know what it is yet.

She now has a job working at a senior care facility!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://mrsbtable.org/
• Instagram: Instagram.com/mrs_b_table
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mrsbtable
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrol-givens
• Yelp: https://s.yelp.com/RwkMRw70ZR
• Other: https://linktr.ee/mrsbtable

Image Credit:
Kaylee Iszard
BB Family Photography