Cape Pride supports Main Street Station to feed hungry as festival is postponed

A year ago Monday, Cape Pride celebrated its first festival in Cape Girardeau.

The 501(c)(3) was set to host its second annual festival last week on Friday and Saturday, but due to the coronavirus, organizers postponed the event and at this point have not solidified a new date, according to board president Amber Moyers.

“We’re still considering a couple [of] different dates,” Moyers said, noting a tentative summer date of June 20 and the possibility of a fall festival, should the summertime not work out. “But until we get clearance from the city and the state ... we can’t say for sure when it’s going to be.”

But Moyers made clear Monday that Cape Pride’s mission goes beyond hosting a festival.

“We are supposed to be a community-service organization No. 1,” she said, “and a festival planning organization No. 2.”

With that spirit in mind, Cape Pride board members will join forces with Ron Taylor, owner of Main Street Station in downtown Cape Girardeau, to hand out meals this weekend to those in need.

On the menu are fried chicken, sides, a sweet treat and a drink, funded through donations made to Cape Pride, according to a weekend news release.

Asked why the not-for-profit chose Main Street Station to support, Moyers said, “Why reinvent the wheel?”

“Ron Taylor ... has been doing an amazing job as far as feeding people over the last few weeks with everything that’s been going on around our community and around the world,” Moyers said. “ ... We’ve got Ron here who’s been doing all this great work, so let’s just get in there with him and support him.”

In the last 45 days or so, Taylor has distributed more than 1,000 meals from his storefront at 130 Main St. and said he now gives out between 50 and 60 meals each night from 5 to 8 p.m. He’s even given out diapers to mothers who he said lost their jobs as the virus shuttered businesses.

It’s an effort Taylor says is inspired by his love for the community and a way to honor his late wife, Barbara Taylor, with whom he started the business.

But until about three weeks ago, Taylor was providing the no-charge meals using funds from his own pocket — and doing so while his own business was closed because of COVID-19.

The support from Cape Pride will allow Taylor to distribute a weekend’s worth of meals to anyone in need.

Moyers said it was important for the organization to link up with a downtown merchant because pride is a “downtown festival.” But the idea to partner with Taylor, she said, first came from board member Kristi Booth, who has worked with Cape Girardeau’s homeless community through The People’s Shelter and knew about Taylor’s ongoing efforts to feed the hungry.

“With everything being shut down, our unsheltered people have absolutely no resources,” Booth said. “ ... Food is essential.”

“We may not understand why or what led people to be on the streets, but one thing we know [is] they are humans,” Booth said, “and we should care enough to help in whatever way we can.”

Food, monetary and other donations can be made in person at Main Street Station, or through Paypal by contacting Taylor on Facebook.