After the mayor of Baltimore closed the schools in the wake of the Monday night riots, community groups rallied to find ways to feed children who would not have had a meal because of the school’s closure.

Pleasant Hope Baptist Church worked with other faith groups to provide not only meals but activities for the youth.

“There are several safe harbors,” Pleasant Hope spokeswoman Jessica Ross told FRSN. “If you go onto Facebook and you just look for Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, you can see an entire list of safe harbors of multiple churches throughout the city. Also, I believe all recreation centers are open between 11am and 7 p.m. I believe that Callowhill Aquatic Center is open tonight and serving dinner until 5 p.m. So there are definitely plenty of safe places for youth to go to today. It’s not perfect but there are a lot of people out there who are trying to have safe harbors for our kids.”

More than 70,000 students in the city receive free or reduced cost lunches.

“Once that call went out, people started bringing things down almost immediately. And then we were getting a lot of phone calls asking what to do, whether if people who had stuff could bring it down and we just said ‘yes.’ If we didn’t use it all, we know people to give it to,” Red Emma’s Bookstore and Cafe owner Cullen Nawalkowsky said.

Northside Baptist Church provided food and activities for the youth.  Outreach Coordinator Betty Smith said that the local media didn’t focus attention on those who were making a difference and feeding the kids.

“The TV stations show all of the negative stuff and nobody showed up here today to show any of the positive stuff,” Smith said.