Jerry Jacob hasn’t sold hot links since March. But on Tuesday he was giving them away for free to voters at Friendship West Baptist Church in South Dallas.
His catering business, Holy Smokes BBQ, was forced to close because of the pandemic. Even as things began to reopen, he couldn’t get his business going because many of the offices he relied on for corporate catering events had not brought their employees back.
Wearing a black shirt that said “Vote!!!!! Then talk” across the front, Jacob said Tuesday morning that he expected to feed about 1,500 voters throughout the day, but he said he would settle for 15 if his links convinced someone to come out and vote.
“We don’t care who you vote for,” Jacob said. “We want to aid the political process.”
Right around 9 a.m., the line at the church was nonexistent as voters quickly went in and out. Jacob, who voted early, said he assumes many people in the area also voted early.
“I would consider voting an essential task, regardless of COVID,” Jacob said. “We have got to rein this country in.”
After voting for the first time in his life, Danny Conner, 58, walked across the church parking lot for some free links. Wearing a Dallas Cowboys mask, Conner said he was motivated to vote Tuesday after a summer of Black Lives Matter protests calling for social change.
“If I leave this world, I want to know there was change for my grandkids," Conner said.
