Difference Makers: Kristy Crill of The Dive Savannah feeds hungry stomachs — and souls

Four days before Christmas in 2020, Kristy Crill stood under the Truman Parkway, staring across a wobbly wooden plank that led to one of the city’s largest homeless camps.

“It broke my heart, because I’d driven by it so many times before on the way to Tybee, and I’d never noticed it,” says Crill, who immediately went and bought water and snacks to distribute to the camp’s citizens.

She didn’t live in Savannah then, though she had visited for years. It wasn’t until a friend back home in Athens mentioned the city’s significant homeless population that she decided to stop under the bridge that day.

“I love Savannah more than any place on the whole earth; I used to come here as a tourist. And when I went in and met the people at the camp, I knew I had to move down here and help.”

A year later, she launched The Dive Savannah, an outreach program that offers food and wraparound services to homeless men and women and low-income veterans. The program now serves several hundred meals every Thursday out of Christ Anglican Church on Bull Street, where Crill cooks soups, casseroles, sides and desserts for those in need.

Catering to community needs

Between the hearty breakfast and lunch, she and an army of volunteers distribute clothing and toiletries as well as assist with job applications and other bureaucratic guidance.

“We help folks get ID cards and birth certificates, and we will buy you a bus ticket back to your city of origin, if you thought you could come here and panhandle and that is not working out,” she says.

On the off days, Crill and her team deliver food and supplies to the camps and the tiny homes that house local veterans as well as fill orders for the Dive’s catering arm: A robust menu of Southern favorites, savory quiches, charcuterie boards, and more are available to the general public six days a week.

As the catering business picks up a formidable roster of local customers, Crill remains committed to expanding her mission of feeding the hungry.

“We want to be able to operate the non-profit side all the time, and the catering can be an opportunity to create even more jobs,” explains the recent transplant.

Her efforts have made a large impact in Savannah in a short time. But before she could fulfill her vision after that fateful day under the Truman Parkway, Crill had to “undo” her life in Athens, where she was already feeding people on the streets. That endeavor came about earlier that year when COVID hit, and she was laid off from her administrative job at Truett McConnell University, the private Baptist college in Cleveland.

“I didn’t qualify for unemployment, so I made up a flyer on my home computer advertising my cooking, and told five friends, ‘If you help me stay afloat, I will work in the streets to help others who are struggling,’” recalls Crill, who graduated from culinary school in her 20s but ended up choosing a different career.

“I made $40,000 in three months.”

Give it away

Her adult daughters, Emily and Susannah, had been helping her in the kitchen and expressed wonder at what their mother was going to do with that chunk of cash.

“I said, ‘I hate to tell you this, but I think we’re going to give it away,’’” says Crill with a laugh. “And that’s what we did.”

She and her girls began delivering meals to homeless citizens in Athens during COVID, funding it through the money made from those purchasing Crill’s home cooking. After she decided that Savannah needed her help more, her daughters followed her east to continue the work in December 2021.

“We started giving two days after we got here,” she says. “I was still driving back to North Georgia once a week to make a living so that I could sustain this down here until people knew who we were.”

It didn’t take long for word to spread. After hearing about her meal deliveries to the camps, the folks at Christ Anglican invited Crill to use their kitchen on a trial basis early this year, which blossomed into full partnership soon after.

“We proved ourselves trustworthy, and they gave us the keys. So we're insured here, we are inspected, we are fully legal to cook and serve.”

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Working with the homeless and other vulnerable populations comes naturally to Crill, who struggled with mental health issues in the past.

“I'm a rescue story, and I'm very fortunate to not be sitting in that room,” she declares with a nod toward the hundred or so folks relishing the lunch she’s prepared for them.

“You know, a lot of times we all have to try all the wrong things before we do the one right thing.”

Head first

Several organizations have come forward to collaborate and connect Crill with those in need. She now works with representatives from Team Savannah for Veterans as well as the local chapters of Provisions 4 Patriots and The War Within Foundation to identify area veterans.

“My father was a war hero, and the cause is very near and dear to my heart,” she affirms.

Other Savannah support showed up in the form of alliances with Tina Mock of the Chamber of Commerce as well as local marketing guru Marianne Ganem Poppell, who introduced Crill around town and helped her set up Dive Savannah’s website and 501c(3). Donations are accepted, as are volunteers.

“People are always welcome to come down on Thursdays and see what we do,” says Crill of the nonprofit’s outreach program. “And you can always order food from us six days a week.”

Formally trained as a pastry chef at the Culinary School at the Art Institute, Crill offers catering for events up to 2,000, serving the most high-brow of clients. However, her enterprise is inspired by her love of more folksy, downhome environs.

“Even though we can do anything you want food-wise — we can make it fancy, we can make it amazing — I will always be forever more comfortable and happy hanging out in a dive with good food and good friends,” she says.

The name became official one day as she was driving between Savannah and Athens listening to the radio and heard “Dive” by Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman.

“That artist has meant so much to me throughout different periods of my life, and when that song came on, I was like, ‘That’s it. I own The Dive,’" the new-to-Savannah altruist affirms with a smile.

“Also, diving in is just how I live; it’s how I approach everything.”

Jessica Leigh Lebos is a writer, adopted southerner, anti-socialite, and camellia thief. She delivers fresh content every week at savannahsideways.com, and her book "Savannah Sideways" is available at your favorite local independent bookstore.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Difference Makers: Kristy Crill helps feed hungry souls in Savannah