'Movement of love': ASU student and poet hosts weekly cookouts for homeless people in Tempe

Austin Davis runs a community organization called AZ Hugs for the Houseless that provides meals and services for the less fortunate. He holds a cookout for individuals in disadvantaged positions at Tempe Town Lake every Sunday. Individuals are provided food, blankets and tents.

Davis, who is also a poet, an Arizona State University student and homeless outreach advocate, is constantly busy and ran late on a recent Sunday because he was picking up a homeless individual who was having a medical emergency.

"He was like, 'Hey, man, I gotta go to the hospital,'" Davis said. "Both of his hands were all swelled up and his legs were all swelled up."

Interactions and ride requests like this don't surprise Davis anymore. He gives everyone he meets his phone number.

"People will call me if they need to go to the hospital, or if they just need a friend to talk to, you know, or if they want to go see their parents. You know, we'll get my van and drive to wherever they need to go. And it works out really well. It's become this really cool movement of love.

"It's the same as if my brother and my sister were in trouble or my parents needed someone to talk to in the morning, you know, I'd answer the phone for them. So I answer the phone for anyone else in the streets."

Who is Austin Davis?

Austin Davis attends ASU, where he is set to graduate in May. He is a poet and musician and frequently finds a way to harmonize the topic of homelessness into his writing and songs. Davis attends online classes to balance his education with his advocacy.

Davis runs the Hugs for the Houseless events to help those who are down on their luck, a skill he learned at a very young age.

"When I was younger, one thing that really started me on this path was that I just used to go out and talk to people experiencing homelessness. I just approached them to be like, 'Hey, man, my name is Austin. How's it going?' You know, we'd just like sit and chat."

Davis also credits Arizona Jews for Justice, a social justice organization. The founder of Arizona Jews for Justice is Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz. He and the organization's campaign director, Eddie Chavez Calderon, "were instrumental in teaching me how to be an effective leader and community organizer," Davis said.

"I got an internship there, and they really started to teach me how to grow into this leadership role," Davis said. "Under their guidance, AZ Hugs for the Houseless has grown into this statewide movement of love and compassion."

In 2020, Davis regularly handed out individual care packages and supplies to homeless people in downtown Phoenix as part of his work with the Arizona Jews for Justice's Homeless Outreach Program. At the beginning of 2021, Jews for Justice formalized his project, calling it AZ Hugs for the Houseless.

"I can use this passion that I have for connecting with people, you know, and being a friend to someone, to organize within our community," Davis said.

Many experts say the best way to help people experiencing homelessness is not to give them items directly, but to donate to nonprofits that can provide services alongside items. But Davis has long advocated for engaging with people directly.

"The big goal with Hugs is to show people that they're not alone because loneliness is the silent killer for those experiencing homelessness," Davis shared.

Advocating for the houseless

Davis regularly helps people in Mesa and downtown Phoenix, and occasionally Tucson and Flagstaff, but his largest outreach is the weekly event in Tempe. There, people sometimes get their laundry done in addition to getting food and other essential items.

Earlier this summer, he volunteered at the dry riverbed just west of Tempe Town Lake known to local homeless individuals.

"You don't see any tents, you don't see any people, nothing, but once you hike down there and you go into the woods, you know, there's hundreds and hundreds of people and it's its own little ecosystem. It's its own community," Davis said. While there, Davis noticed that people were suffering due to the extreme heat.

Davis brought several IV drips and a water-filled 10-gallon Gatorade cooler. "Every two days, I'd hike down, refill them all, and that project saved a lot of lives," Davis said.

The problems aren't only in Tempe, according to Davis.

"A big issue right now in downtown Phoenix is the street sweeps," Davis said. Three times a week, Phoenix police officers and city sanitation workers descend upon the homeless encampment of about 200 people outside the Human Services Campus known as "The Zone" for mass cleanups, sometimes throwing away people's possessions in the process. Refusing to move can result in a ticket.

"I've gotten tickets in 'The Zone' before too. I've been threatened with arrest many, many times," Davis said.

Davis dreams of one day being able to give people a place to sleep.

"Hugs has really exploded over the last two years," Davis said. "I really want to start a shelter. All the shelters are full, there are just no beds."

Committed to helping: Maricopa County funds 350 new homeless shelter beds

More about the Sunday events

The event is held every Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. at Tempe Town Lake near the main parking lot off Rio Salado Parkway. Dozens of people visit throughout the event.

"I started to see that people were showing up at four and five and six and seven. And I was like, 'Damn, you know, I'm sorry, we're out of food.'" He's been trying to implement a system to avoid the food from running out. He does this by bringing an initial meal followed by volunteers bringing more food throughout the evening.

"Last week, we had these big hams that we carved and we had buns and condiments and cheeses and stuff. We had these nice ham sandwiches, chicken tenders, vegetables and Kool-Aid."

Recently, Davis was given salad mix and salad dressing by one of his local partners, Salad-n-Go.

"So the idea is that if you're hungry, and you can make it to Tempe, you know, we got something for you," Davis said.

How to help

Davis said the program is funded through the generosity of the community, which has made continuous small donations to keep the program going. He accepts donations through Venmo @Austin-Davis-399 and PayPal at Awdavis0214@gmail.com.

Davis has made his home a drop-off spot for donations.

"I just checked a little bit ago. There's like 10 boxes on the porch of just like donations and people just kind of come through and drop off stuff on the porch." He's also created donation drop-offs at ASU and asked individuals to do the same.

Davis believes that the best thing people can do, along with volunteering, is asking friends and family to donate supplies and other essential items.

Davis' last project was a jazz poetry album about homelessness called "STREET SORROWS" with musician Joe Allie. "My biggest goal has always been to combine my passion for activism and my passion for arts and enact social change with my art," Davis said.

His next book, "LOTUS & THE APOCALYPSE," comes out on March 1 from Outcast Press. It’s a narrative told in poems, written during the pandemic, about the last day on Earth.

"I want to keep running this event because it's become a hub for these lifesaving, essential items," Davis said.

Reach breaking news reporter Steven Hernandez at steven.hernandez@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @The_HdzCo.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU student hosts cookouts for the homeless at Tempe Town Lake