💕 Loving Our Neighbors: February Shoutouts

February is the month of love, and in Little Flower, love shows up in countless everyday ways — through service, connection, kindness and care for one another. This month, we’re highlighting two neighbors who reflect what it truly means to love where you live: Evon Holley, through her work with Breakfast Buddies, and a Business Member, JClydes Pub.

💛 Evon Holley & Breakfast Buddies

When we say we love our neighbors, we mean showing up — consistently, compassionately and without expectation. Few people embody that spirit more fully than Evon Holley, the heart behind Breakfast Buddies, a grassroots effort that has quietly served some of Indianapolis’s most vulnerable neighbors for more than a decade.

Breakfast Buddies began 13 years ago with a simple but powerful promise. After meeting Maurice Young — a well-known advocate for people experiencing homelessness — Evon agreed to provide meals if he could find a place where people would gather. He did, and she followed through. That commitment became a weekly ritual of hot food, coffee, snacks and human connection. Maurice has since passed away, but his legacy — and Evon’s promise — live on.

This is the Breakfast Buddies Facebook page, where Evon shares updates, photos and ways to help support our neighbors. Submitted by Evon Holley. Over the years, Breakfast Buddies has adapted to changing circumstances. When Evon retired and the original location closed, the group grew smaller. During COVID, when many services paused, Evon kept going — feeding people weekly when support was hardest to find. Neighbors stepped up too, donating blankets, clothing, sleeping bags, tents and even reusable cups so folks could stay hydrated through the summer. As Evon often says, sometimes it’s the simple things that matter most.

Breakfast Buddies has always been about dignity as much as food. Evon, a cosmetologist by trade, kept haircutting tools in her van so people could leave feeling like themselves again. Birthdays were celebrated when possible. Stories were shared. Lives changed. Some who once stood in line now stop by to say hello — housed, sober, employed, married — eager to tell Evon how much her care meant when they needed it most.

This work isn’t flashy, and it isn’t transactional. It’s rooted in relationships, respect and a deep belief that everyone deserves warmth, nourishment and kindness.

If you’d like to learn more about Breakfast Buddies, see photos, or explore ways to get involved, you can find the group on Facebook here.

🍻 JClydes Pub: Our Neighborhood Living Room

Our neighborhood love story wouldn’t be complete without celebrating JClydes Pub, Little Flower’s one and only business member — and a true neighborhood gathering place.

JClydes has deep roots here. The original owners were from the neighborhood, including Jo Ann Able, who served for years as a nurse and administrator at Scecina High School. After her retirement, the bar was purchased and continued as a place shaped by — and for — the community it serves.

The team at JClydes says they’ve stayed in Little Flower because they simply can’t imagine leaving. They value the neighborhood’s diversity and work intentionally to be more than just a “public house,” striving instead to support and serve the community in meaningful ways.

As business owners, they’re grateful for loyal, kind patrons, strong support from the neighborhood association, and the firefighters, EMTs, and officers who patrol the area. What stands out most is the way neighbors look out for one another — a culture of care that JClydes experiences daily.

Sometimes that love shows up in small moments: returning a dropped wallet, checking in on a neighbor, shoveling a sidewalk, reuniting a lost pet. Other times, it’s more visible — like during the neighborhood bingo event hosted at JClydes, where neighbors met neighbors, friendships formed and the room buzzed with connection and laughter.

When asked what they’d write in a Valentine to the neighborhood, JClydes shared this:

To the block we call home, where strangers become friends, where our differences make us strong and the good deeds never end. We’re grateful to gather, to serve, and to share this place we love. Happy Valentine’s Day to our neighborhood, with thanks from your pub! ❤️

💌 Share the Love

These are just two examples of the many ways love shows up in Little Flower every day. As we move through this month of love, we invite you to help us keep the appreciation going.

• 👉 Who’s a neighbor you’d like to shout out?

• 👉 Who’s shown kindness, care or community spirit lately?

Drop your shoutouts in the comments — let’s celebrate the people who make Little Flower feel like home.