Hug the Block – a meal, celebration, and act of service rolled into one – returns on Nov. 26 for its sixth year in Sweet Auburn. In what’s become a yearly tradition for Our Bar ATL, the Edgewood Avenue bar closes to the public the night before Thanksgiving and throws an event specifically meant to assist the area’s homeless population.
Since opening in 2020, Our Bar has had an intimate relationship with the Sweet Auburn and Old Fourth Ward unhoused communities. The bar opened right before the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with a desire to serve amidst a lockdown, the staff at Our Bar pivoted to making brown bag lunches for people in need.
“We’d go to Mr. John’s store down the street and just pass out sandwiches to whoever,” said Sarah Oak Kim, Our Bar ATL co-founder and co-owner. “Then it turned into this social distancing assembly line of workers where we would just make 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a day.”
Word spread, Oak Kim said, and it wasn’t long before people began approaching Our Bar staff about acquiring a brown bag lunch.
The demand was consistent, and Our Bar’s staff grew familiar with the nearby homeless population — some of the hardest hit people by the pandemic shutdowns. As time passed, and Atlanta’s restrictions lifted in 2020, the bar’s charitable endeavors within the community evolved.
Dez Luecke, part of the opening staff at Our Bar and founder of Misfit Love Mafia, took bagged lunches out into the community. As the weather cooled, Our Bar stocked an outdoor table with a self-serve noodle, coffee, and tea bar. People donated socks, mittens, and hand warmers. Again, word spread amongst the unhoused community in and around Sweet Auburn that Our Bar offered a place for them to warm up.
“That Thanksgiving [in 2020] we wanted to do something special. I was like, ‘man, it’d be nice to throw them a party,’” Oak Kim said. “That’s the human part of hospitality, right? That’s the whole point. You want that service, you want that bonding, you want that entertainment, you want that companionship.”
Luecke’s wife, an actress, reached out to production companies for shower trailers to place in the back lot of Our Bar. From there, more volunteers donated items, including clothing and wigs, and grooming services such as hair cuts, makeup, and manicures. Chefs offered to donate food or even cook at the bar. (Luecke now works at Leftie Lee’s in Avondale Estates, which donated its kitchen space to help prepare meals for Hug the Block this year.)
“Now we let them come inside. We’re dancing, we’re singing, we’re partying, we’re playing bingo, we’re giving out prizes. We have essential stuff and blankets, whatever they need, and then they can have a really good night,” Oak Kim said of providing not only services but dignity for the unhoused people who attend Hug the Block each year.
In 2025, the need is great. The current economy is straining Atlantans, which has contributed to an uptick in people who are newly or recently experiencing homelessness. And while the dining and hospitality industries are changing things up on menus to include budget-friendly options, many customers may not have as much capacity to give back as in previous years.
Last month, for example, Oak Kim noticed more children attending the bar’s trick-or-treating event, which provides free candy, snacks, pizza, and slushies to local kids.
“We were so worried because even with donations like school supplies and the candy drive, we could tell this year was going to be rough,” she said. “So little donations came in, which was a good indicator of how bad people were struggling this year.”
Instead of cutting their biggest community service project, Our Bar prioritized Hug the Block over the end-of-year awards event they usually host.
“It costs us a lot of money, so we agreed to not do [the awards] this year and use that money towards buying whatever was missing for Hug the Block,” Oak Kim said.
Our Bar and Misfit Love Mafia have already paid for everything provided at this year’s event. Oak Kim stressed, however, that Hug the Block will continue accepting donations from the public through Wednesday, and that Misfit Love Mafia, who sponsored the majority of the event, is seeking donations year-round.
People can bring supplies to Our Bar tonight, starting at 8 p.m. Both Oak Kim and Luecke said the greatest need right now are for blankets and outerwear. Large outerwear (winter coats and rain gear) is the greatest need. Other clothing can be used for layering. Our Bar needs volunteer sorters to organize donations ahead of Wednesday’s event. Misfit Love Mafia also accepts donations via Venmo.
Hug the Block begins setting up on Nov. 26 at 10 a.m. That afternoon, from 1-5 p.m., Hug the Block will provide a light breakfast, showers, makeup and nail services, haircuts, and a clothing drive. Then, from 4 p.m. until the last guest leaves, Our Bar ATL will host a dinner party, games, and live music indoors.
Our Bar ATL, 339 Edgewood Ave., Sweet Auburn.