Milwaukee Ministry breaks bread to build up south-side neighborhood

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The key to stopping gun violence may be in just "getting to know your neighbors." That's been the cry from Milwaukee city leaders in recent weeks.

And it's actually the mission of a local church group that's been reaching out to a south-side neighborhood. This is nothing new for Milwaukee's Faith Builders Ministry.

That's because the challenge has been around much longer. And as always, this team prays before they hit the streets to deliver meals.

Volunteers go door-to-door in a south side neighborhood. Meeting the families, many are in need, and too often victims of violence.

"The main goal is to find what the root causes are within the community so we can help them make those changes but the only way to do that is to build a relationship with them," said Richard Schwoegler, Faith Builders team member.

The building blocks are as simple as a sandwich. It just takes a lot of peanut butter and jelly to make them!

"So far, I think our count was at 300. 300 sandwiches," said Tyra Askew, volunteer.

Volunteers like Tyra were up since 6:30 a.m. on her day off to make a modest meal, hundreds of times over.

"Don't have anything planned on Saturday's so why not dedicate myself on every Saturday morning to a good cause to put a smile on someone's face," said Tyra.

At a point when leaders are asking people to take ownership of their neighborhoods -- here's a group that's been working at it for years. It's not a feast, but it is faith and it's feeding souls, hungry for change.