WYOMING, Mich. — TwoGuys Brewing, a restaurant in Wyoming is being recognized by the Roger B Chaffee American Legion Auxiliary Post 154, for its ongoing effort to feed hungry neighbors for free.
Owners, Tom and Amy Payne, started a free community meals program that has provided nearly 8,000 meals since November.
"The biggest thing for us when we started TwoGuys Brewing, it was to be a catalyst for our neighborhood, to be the spot for community and the meeting place and a recovery place," Tom Payne said.
The American Legion Post 154 in Wyoming presented a plaque and donated money to the Paynes in hopes they can continue serving the community.
"We need to start looking at our community. What does the community do to help the community out there? There's so many people that go unrecognized, and we would like to start recognizing people that we respect," said Pat Coykendall, a member of the American Legion Post 154.
The American Legion noted the accessibility of the brewery's food pantry, another staple of their community meals program.
"We've seen their cooler is full of food, and we've seen bread there. People come in and they take what they need, and they can come back tomorrow. They don't limit people," Coykendall said.
The Paynes' see the struggles of their neighbors firsthand.
"That's real money. That's your bread and milk and eggs for the week. That's hard when you have little kids. We've been in that position before, where every dime counted," Amy Payne said.
"I had a lady in yesterday, who's raising her five grandchildren, because her daughter's not in a place to be able to do it, she needed things for meals. So she got stuff off our pantry to make she was so excited," Amy Payne said.
The support from the American Legion means the world to the Paynes' and keeps them going.
"We do not intend on stopping this. Amy was saying earlier, we're seeing new faces every day. We're also seeing some of our other folks we've seen for a while not showing up, so maybe some of their food insecurities have eased up a little. But we are not stopping," Tom Payne said.
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