Operation Ten City kicks off at the Baltimore Convention Center
BALTIMORE -- Operation Ten City took over Charm City this weekend to give back and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs in underserved neighborhoods.
WJZ is a proud media sponsor of the event.
The national campaign held a conference at the Baltimore Convention Center and helped thousands of people in the community, too.
Operation Ten City teamed up with neighborhood leaders to host two giveaways of grocery and gas cards at the Mount Pleasant Community Center in East Baltimore and Carver Vocational Tech High School in West Baltimore on Saturday.
Some people found out about it on a prayer line.
"It is helping me, and it's helping my family, and it's helping others as well," East Baltimore resident Deborah Adams said.
She came to the grocery and gas card giveaway for her mother and daughter and became one of thousands to receive a helping hand.
"But they're still allowing me to get items for them. I am getting ready to cry — because God is so amazing and I'm really, really really grateful," said Adams.
Operation Ten City is an operation in 10 cities nationwide centered around community outreach, faith and economic restoration.
On Saturday, its volunteers handed out food, gift cards, shoes and clothing to thousands of people on the east and west side of the city.
"There are so many things going on," Jeffery Conner, a team lead with Operation Ten City, said. "These are communities struggles are going on, the hard times are going on, and our job and our goal is to bring back and restore hope and economic empowerment to everyone to cities we go to."
Neighborhood leaders on Baltimore's west side like Clyde Harris, a local church elder and community leader, believe this is a step toward transforming the community.
"We're here as leaders here, as I do, the moral anchors of the community, to end it," Harris said. "So, we're saying stop the crime; stop your crying. We here to dry those tears and bring happiness."
Operation Ten City happens across the nation. Baltimore is city number seven.
Organizers told WJZ they never know which city they're going to go to next, but wherever they go, they know they will always give back.
