COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Making a difference one plate of food at a time, a community-focused social organization held a cookout Sunday afternoon for the Wedgewood community.

Justice, Unity, and Social Transformation (JUST) held the cookout as an example of how the organization is attempting to inspire and bring communities together.

“Events like this, where we’re meeting the people where they are and bringing them out to the community, I think, fosters trust and gets people to work together to solve issues,” JUST volunteer Rhayna Kramer said.

Burgers, hot dogs, chips, salad, and anything you could want from a cookout was brought by JUST to the Wedgewood community, a community that has seen its fair share of tragic violence in recent years.

“Our goal is really to meet people where they’re at, feed them, give them a nice meal, listen to them and figure out ways we can come into a place like Wedgewood and start putting, you know, work, start putting these boots on the ground and actually getting something done,” JUST cofounder and president Ramon Obey said.

JUST was started back in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since then, it’s had one goal.

“The official mission of JUST is to enrich and uplift the community and give equity and inclusion to Black and brown folks and to build the necessary political structures that we’re going to use to uplift,” Obey said.

That mission is what brought the group to Wedgewood Sunday. Obey said the neighborhood is an overlooked place that wants to use its voice.

“Overall, it’s just underappreciated and this is a community of people from multiple different cultures and backgrounds that have something to give to the overall community of Columbus, but they don’t have the necessary sources,” he said.

One of the hopes of the Wedgewood community is to turn a nearby abandoned school into a recreation center. JUST believes it can help with this goal and feel the cookout is the first step in making that partnership happen.

JUST is scheduling similar events for the future, including a karaoke night next week.