Tucson DJ Jahmar hosting event to feed homeless

Tucson DJ Jahmar Anthony made his annual holiday trip to his father’s native Jamaica.

You might say it was a working vacation; Anthony, who goes by the stage name DJ Jahmar, had a show in his late father Dennis Anthony’s hometown of Kingston.

But his primary reason for the annual trip was to feed the homeless in some of the most desolate areas of the island’s capital city through Anthony’s 12-year-old charity Deejays Against Hunger.

Homelessness in Jamaica is worse there than his native Tucson, he said, largely because people don’t have access to government resources like food stamps. Homelessness also is a generational issue.

“There are people born into homelessness,” Anthony lamented Monday, days before his Deejays Against Hunger hosts its inaugural “Day 1” event on Wednesday to feed Tucson’s homeless. “Jamaica is a place that if nobody is checking on you, you will be forgotten.”

Anthony does a number of events throughout the year with Deejays Against Hunger, which is a registered domestic nonprofit, but this is the first time they’ve done one on New Year’s Day.

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“The idea came to me, why not start the year on a positive note,” he said.

From noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Anthony and a group of volunteers including fans of his music and fellow DJs, will hand out pizza donated by Empire Pizza to the homeless in the parking lot of Santa Rita Park, 401 W. 22nd St. They also will distribute 100 beanies.

Anthony, who grew up in his late father’s Twelve Tribes Reggae Shop, said he donates 25% of the money he makes performing to support the events he hosts through Deejays Against Hunger.

“I seen that there was a need in Tucson and I felt like all the agencies were overstretched so why don’t I help,” he said.

Anthony said he expects to serve about 70 people on Wednesday.

To learn more about Deejays Against Hunger visit facebook.com/deejaysagainsthunger.