– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

If you look historically at food responses,

the pantry model has been unchanged since the [1960s].

Everywhere in places that looked like mine,

it was inefficient,

it didn't champion quality

or the end-user experience,

and it just bothered me.

I'm Dion Dawson,

founder and Chief Dreamer of Dion's Chicago Dream.

We’re a non-profit social enterprise

that focuses on providing access to healthy food, consistently,

making sure that your zip code does not determine how long you live.

We deliver a 10-pound box of fresh fruits and vegetables

to more than 4,300 households in the Chicagoland region per week.

It could be everything from a pineapple to different types of apples,

citruses, Swiss chard,

spinach, pomegranates.

Since 2020, we've provided a little over 3.5 million pounds

of fresh produce that we've purchased, packed, and delivered.

And we've never charged any of our recipients to date.

Our produce and our quality is top notch.

We've never taken a single piece of donated produce.

We purchase everything.

It may cost us a little more, but that's fine.

You don't want to dictate what people think they deserve.

If we're thinking about people living longer, healthier lives,

and you want to give them the best opportunity to be healthy,

you can't do that with expiring food.

One of the things that we wanted to do a little different

is make sure that we're talking to people.

We do a bi-weekly touchpoint

where we collect scores in six different areas

like ease of delivery,

quality of produce, staff treatment

and even stress after delivery.

And so we can see that we're lowering stress levels daily

by more than 80 percent.

Quite simple.

Just serving people and delivering quality food, produce.

When this all started,

I was working overnights at Amazon.

I knew absolutely nothing.

I didn't know any statistics.

I’d never done non-profit management or grant writing.

None of it.

That blind ignorance will get you way further

when you just don't know what you're up against.

On Juneteenth in 2020,

a Gen Z-er came up to me, that I had grown up with,

and said, "Hey, what are you doing for Juneteenth?"

And I had no idea.

You know, I tried to kind of play along, but he said,

"No, what are you doing?"

And I just said, "I'm going to feed 100 families."

I didn't think about it, I don't know where it came from.

And from there it was two GoFundMe campaigns later

and buying 800 pounds of food

and bagging chicken leg quarters at four in the morning.

What started as someone challenging me to do something

for the community for Juneteenth,

turned into a day and an event

that made me feel like I had never felt before.

And wanting to chase that feeling

of not having to convince myself that I wasn't the problem,

or not having to convince myself that something was good,

but just feeling good.

From there, it was on.

It just lit a fire in me.

We're up to 48 employees, about 15 vehicles.

We're opening up a 20,000-square-foot location later this year.

We've grown in an environment where growth has been difficult.

The average Black-led nonprofit never makes it to a million in revenue.

We did it in 18 months.

As a company, we've never been in the red.

It’s a social enterprise non-profit that is still a business.

Early on, it was really about individual donors and grants.

And then over the years, we've tried to continue to figure out

how to diversify the revenue so that we can be sustainable.

We've never missed a payroll.

We've never lost an employee.

We've never had a volunteer.

I just think that if someone does a job, they should get paid for it.

It's a commitment back to people.

Without a wealth-building vehicle

attached to whatever social impact work you're doing,

then you're just perpetuating the circumstances

that you're trying to fight.

You can still do good business and do good by people,

and you don't have to build like everyone else.

There were so many people early on

that tried to guide us into taking donated food,

into using volunteer hours and trading board seats for money.

And because of us rebuffing a lot of those things,

here we are almost five years later,

and this work has really not only defined a lot of people's lives,

but it's allowed me to wake up and go to sleep

knowing and never questioning.

I have no goals.

I just believe that anything is possible.

Part of just being a dreamer

is understanding that I decide what I focus on.

We've gotten the opportunity to write our own story.

It's really about joy, happiness, being OK,

knowing that you gave everything you had.

All of these are things that are important,

and we don't champion them enough.

It's always about reminding each other what difficult is.

A difficult day as the Chief Dreamer of Dion's Chicago Dream

pales in comparison to the worst day I've ever had as Dion Dawson.

You evolve, you learn.

This is the first time in my life

where I can honestly say I've never stopped learning.

Every single day.

I learn, I apply, I try,

probably failed more in this five years than in my first 30,

but I don't have it figured out.

I think that's the fun part.

Yeah, that's pretty crazy.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
deliver /dɪˈlɪvər/ A2	verb - to take something to someone
provide /prəˈvaɪd/ B1	verb - to make something available
quality /ˈkwɑːləti/ B1	noun - the standard of something
access /ˈækses/ B1	noun - the ability to use or obtain something
fresh /freʃ/ A2	adjective - recently made or obtained
fruit /fruːt/ A1	noun - sweet and fleshy product of a tree or plant
vegetable /ˈvedʒtəbl/ A2	noun - a plant or part of a plant used as food
purchase /ˈpɜːrtʃəs/ B1	verb - to buy something
million /ˈmɪljən/ B2	noun - a large number (1,000,000)
revenue /ˈrevənjuː/ C1	noun - income from business
sustainable /səˈsteɪnəbl/ B2	adjective - able to be maintained at a certain rate or level
impact /ˈɪmpækt/ B1	noun - the effect or influence of something
challenge /ˈtʃælɪndʒ/ B1	verb - to dispute the truth or validity of something noun - a task or situation that tests someone's abilities
opportunity /ˌɑːpərˈtuːnəti/ B2	noun - a chance to do something
evolve /ɪˈvɒlv/ C1	verb - to develop gradually
learn /lɜːrn/ A1	verb - to gain knowledge or skill
failure /ˈfeɪljər/ B2	noun - lack of success