We were lucky to catch up with Tyra Jackson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tyra, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Helping people has always been a passion of mine since I was a little girl. I would help my grandmother and mother when giving out food and household items to the community. Started 2020 in the heart of the Pandemic The Caring was founded. The vision came to me and I got my journal and began to write the name The Caring, slogans, programs, and organizations I wanted to work with. I began to go online and research about what is needed in bags to give out to the unhoused community. No car or transportation I packed up snack bags and reached out to a local church where Pastor Richards was my first donar of hygiene items. i bagged the hygiene items and snacks bags and got on the rapid going downtown Cleveland and distributed these essentials. It was that day when I seen the gratitude and the smiles on community faces I knew this was what I’m suppose to do . The community needed love and it was time for me to begin my mission. I starting my social media and The Village just poured out so much love and support in us. I call those that donate or support The Village. Our very first big event was Christmas 2020 and it was so beautiful over 400 children received a toy ages 0 to 18 years old . This was our opportunity to collaborate with our first organization whom we still partner with today. We have a awesome team of volunteers some whom has been there from the beginning and I’m so grateful for each and every one of them. The caring has been thriving every since day one and continues to stand by our mission of lending a hand throughout the community in times of need because we care!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Mrs. Jackson in the community and helping people has always been a passion of mine since I was a little girl. I would help my grandmother and mother when giving out food and household items to the community. It was about spreading love to the community.

We offer services to support individuals toward self-sufficiency to become productive and independent members of society. These services will include but not limited to: Food, clothing and personal items • Referrals to Counseling & Healthcare Services • Employment Search Assistance • Referral to Outside Community Resources as needed.

We feed the unhoused hot meals, snacks and bookbags with essentials inside. Our parenting with Care program that provides pack n plays, pampers, wipes and baby essentials, PPE, Hygiene and Cleaning supply bags to those in need, Community family events including aster, Christmas, Mother’s Day ,Halloween and summertime. Family Fun Times outing to places like Cleveland Monster Hockey games or Jurassic Park Live and families attend for free. Back to school events to help with supplies.

We have helped clients have a safe sleep place for their babies by providing pack & plays and this makes us very happy because Cleveland had the greatest infant mortality rate.

I think that The Caring is set apart from others because everyone can feel the love and compassion that pours out in what we do. The Caring and team really tries to make sure when we engage with the community they leave knowing we care.

I’m proud that I was chosen for this mission to spread love by helping those in need What really makes me happy is when repeat clients come and support everything your doing. Building a rapport with the clients makes a big difference. The Caring also received a certificate in September for recognition of the work we’re doing in the community. This is a great acknowledgement.

Know that The Caring is here for all those in the community who need a helping hand or want to lend one. We do not turn anyone away based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or national origin. We stand for equality and the uplifting of diverse voices. Our organization tolerates no forms of hate or prejudice. We are here for everybody because we care

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The Caring and the team is like family that has to support, uplift and spread love amongst each other. I try to send out motivation or checking in text messages to the team, always letting them know how grateful I am of their hard work and dedication. Thanking them for believing in my mission and standing with me to carry out this journey of lending a hand throughout the community in times of need because we care!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

When it comes to our audience on social media I literally just started following different organizations and supporting by sharing and commenting on their stories or post. I would go live and do giveaways to our followers which I actually miss that. I would have them share our page and tag friends or family and comment something encouraging to them under that tag on our post, It was about engaging with the audience and me going live they could actually see who was Mrs. Jackson this person behind The Caring. Its about supporting each other!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thecaring.org/
• Instagram: instagram.com/the.caring/
• Facebook: facebook.com/The-Caring-102950341412468/?ref=pages_you_manage
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiXrghWbRFkAZXCR6DUVxzA