She has no choice

Monica Johnson feeds nearly 900 people in the Hill District, neighboring communities

 For Hill District native Monica Johnson, she has no choice but to give back to her community.

She doesn’t spend time thinking what people can do for her, she told the New Pittsburgh Courier, a few weeks after providing 878 people throughout the year 2024 with a hot meal, whether it was for Thanksgiving or prior. It’s about what she can do for others.

MONICA JOHNSON WELCOMES EVERYONE TO THE FEEDING THE VILLAGE THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION, NOV. 30, 2024. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

“Just to be able to put back in what people put into me; knowledge, discipline,” Johnson said. “It feels absolutely amazing.”

Whle some CEOs and big wigs of huge companies in the Pittsburgh region are relaxing in their mansions in the Fox Chapels and the Edgeworths of the world, it seems like Johnson is doing much more for Pittsburgh’s Black communities than those other CEOs would ever know.

“It’s important because we are experiencing a high number of hunger, high number of issues in our community,” Johnson said.

VERNARD ALEXANDER, MONICA JOHNSON, DENISE GRAHAM SHEALEY AND HER HUSBAND SHELLY

On Nov. 30, Johnson, who is the owner of Foxy Frans catering, held an event at the Elsie. H. Hillman Auditorium at the Kaufmann Center in the Hill District which fed 212 people for the Thanksgiving holiday. During the event, she honored some community champions like Vernard Alexander, Denise Graham Shealey, Rich Newell and Ray Nell Jones, along with sponsors of the event.

“Anything that Vernard cosigns, it happens,” Johnson said with a smile.

MORISHA MOORE WITH MONICA JOHNSON. THE ART PIECE WAS DONE BY MOORE.

Johnson wears two hats. She began Foxy Frans catering in 2020, which also is a food truck. “Foxy Frans” is an ode to her late grandmother, Frances Catherine Harper. But Johnson began “Feeding The Village” in 2023, a nonprofit organization that gives Johnson the ability to provide the free hot meals to people in the community throughout the year, through sponsors and donations. Johnson serves as Feeding The Village’s executive director.

Johnson lauded Shealey and Newell for their financial support over the years, and Jones for her guidance and encouraging inspiration with the Feeding The Village organization.

At the second-annual Thanksgiving Celebration, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and First Lady Michelle Gainey made an appearance, showing their support for the movement and the impact that Johnson’s Feeding The Village organization has made in such a short period of time.

MORE THAN 200 PEOPLE WERE FED ON NOV. 30 AT THE ELSIE H. HILLMAN AUDITORIUM AT THE KAUFMANN CENTER, IN THE HILL DISTRICT.

“I’m literally communicating to our community through food,” Johnson, who attended popular schools like the old McKelvy, as well as Milliones and Brashear, told the Courier. “There’s a lot of food insecurities and I just love to be of service.”

(Editor’s note: To donate to Feeding The Village, or if you’re in need of food, call 412-407-3537.