Inspired by her grandmother’s legacy, Jamaica native Paulette Robinson Morrison honors a lifelong call to serve by bringing meals, compassion and ministry to Covington’s disadvantaged.
Some grandparents pass down jewelry, furniture or family recipes to their grandchildren. Paulette Robinson Morrison’s grandmother passed down a way of life.
A few years ago, Morrison started looking for ways to help community members in need after having moved to Covington in 2017. She had retired from a lifelong career in nursing and wanted to find another way to care for those in need.
“This is a part of me,” said Morrison, who worked as a nurse, a phlebotomist and in home health over the years in Massachusetts and Georgia. “I was gifted for that. That’s all I want to do is help people.”
She often thinks back to life in her native Jamaica, where she grew up with her family and was partially raised by her grandmother. She was kind because she liked feeding all of the people who came to her,” Morrison said. “Whatever food she had, usually from the garden, she would split it up, no matter how small. She helped everyone, especially children. Kids would come over to the house to play, and she wouldn’t make them go home. If she was preparing a meal, she would make sure to give them some, too.”
“When I do this, I’m not looking for anything. I’m helping the less fortunate. That’s what the Lord has for me to do.”
Paulette Robinson Morrison
Whenever her grandmother cooked, Morrison and her family would provide food to the pastor across town. She remembers taking him traditional Jamaican meals with chicken and rice for breakfast and dinner, along with foods from her grandmother’s Irish background and her grandfather’s African heritage.
“I get the passion from there,” said Morrison, who moved from Jamaica to Boston with her mother near the turn of the century. She has now found an avenue through which to assist her current community whenever she can. “That’s my assignment,” said Morrison, a minister through Sacred Heart Church of Jesus Christ International, which is based in Jamaica and has plans to open a branch in Covington. “I see people around town, and I would offer my help.”
Morrison in 2023 noticed homeless and in-need community members of all ages around the Repairers of the Breach Thrift Center on Washington Street in Covington. At the time, she lived with one of the volunteers who told her about the facility, which provides food, clothing and other items to the disadvantaged. Morrison started visiting the center each week to feed people out of her Chrysler van—rain or shine, hot or cold.
“I don’t want food to go to waste, so I would just go and give it to them,” said Morrison, who found her way to Georgia in 2012, first in Snellville and then in Lithonia. “It makes me feel happy that I can do that.” Sometimes, she would bring pizzas and drinks to them, and other times, she would offer items from her pantry like fruit bars. Morrison has even made them meals like sausage, bacon, grits and biscuits. “They love grits. They would take it, and they’re happy. They’re not rude,” she said, adding that there are usually 15 or more people of all ages each time she visits. “I have a passion for doing this. When I do this, I’m not looking for anything. I’m helping the less fortunate. That’s what the Lord has for me to do.”
Morrison has not yet had a chance to make any Jamaican meals for those she served, but she hopes to do so one day. At one time, she would try to take food weekly. Now, she brings it around town whenever she can. Usually, Morrison collects food on her own, but sometimes, she gets assistance from her family or members of her church. She has even included a friend visiting from Jamaica in her quest to feed those in need around Covington.
“She’s doing a great job, and I encourage her to continue it,” Deany Forbes said. “I do the same in Jamaica. I make food and bring it out. I make cakes around the holidays and take it to the homeless on the streets or to the church.”
Repairers of the Breach CEO Shirley Smith suggests that anyone interested in assisting with meals should contact the center to get on the schedule to drop off donations. Individuals, churches and businesses can sign up throughout the year. “We welcome anybody who wants to serve,” Smith said. The facility hosts a warming shelter, food bank, showers and sitting areas, in addition to boosting the community by providing meals throughout the day, along with necessary food supplies and other items. “We couldn’t do it without people helping,” said Smith, whose facility reaches out to the homeless, elderly and struggling families in the area. “Covington is great about volunteering. We need all the help we can get.”
Morrison revealed that her three children—Melissa McIntosh, Phillip McIntosh and Neckia Madden, all of whom live nearby—and five grandchildren assist her on occasion with rounding up food and hopes they will continue assisting those in need in their own communities. Eventually, she plans for her ministry to find a building from which she can serve others.
“We pray with them and encourage them,” said Morrison, who shares the Bible with the needy whenever she can. “We don’t know what will happen to us one day. We all go through things. I never know what my day will be like one day. I will continue to help.”
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