She's feeding those in need, 1 taco at a time

SALT LAKE CITY — Just so you know, this story was not Megan's idea.

Megan Akar is a 26-year-old woman who works in the federal building in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. She's at a good time of life. She's young, healthy, energetic, has her college degree (in global studies from Dixie State). She got married last fall. She has a good job.

So what's next?

Well, feed those who are hungry, for one.

Every day, one homeless person, and sometimes more than one, eats free at the Tacos El Potosino food truck that parks outside the federal building at lunchtime. All compliments of Megan, although no one is supposed to know that.

Megan came up with the plan one day when she was sitting at a table outside the federal building enjoying her lunch of taco truck tacos.

Across the way, on the sidewalk where the poor and needy often congregate, were several people who looked to be down on their luck.

She got out of her chair, marched over to the truck and said, in effect, "If a homeless person buys a taco, put it on my tab."

"The idea just came to me," she says. "You're helping a local business and you're also helping feed the homeless. It's a double whammy sort of thing, a win-win."

When the people at the taco truck pointed out that it might be a good idea to set some limits or she might go broke in a hurry, Megan told them she'd be willing to donate as much as $200 a month, a total that works out to an average of about $10 every workday.

At $2 a taco, that won't feed the world, but it will feed some of it.

As it happened, shortly after Megan struck her deal, Deseret News photographer Kristin Murphy was standing near the taco truck when she overheard someone say, "If you're homeless, you don't need to pay."

Kristin wasn't there for tacos; she was there to take pictures of a protest going on outside the federal building. But being the award-winning photojournalist that she is, her ears perked up. This could be a good story. It got better when the people at the truck told her about the anonymous benefactor. And still more promising when they gave her Megan's phone number.

At first, when Kristin contacted her and asked if the Deseret News could take some photos and do a story, Megan said fine, as long as we didn't take pictures of her and use her name.

"We couldn't do the story with anonymous sources," Kristin replied, and then added, "If we used your name and example, maybe it would inspire others to do the same."

To which Megan, the kind of person who would have a hard time disappointing anyone by telling them no, responded: "OK, that's cool. Let's do it."

A week later, sitting at the same table in the federal building's outdoor patio where she had her feed-the-homeless epiphany, I asked Megan the reasons behind her taco truck cause. Where did the compassion come from?

She named two sources: her father and her Heavenly Father.

She said her dad, Adam Boyle, started taking the family on mercy missions to the disadvantaged when she was a teenager. Every year at Christmastime, they'd pick out a family to support. From that, Adam developed a regular habit of donating a day each week to the homeless shelter in Salt Lake, distributing snacks and supplies and helping serve food (he drives from his home in American Fork every Wednesday or Thursday).

His example is Megan's touchstone.

"Because of the experiences I've had with my dad, I've talked to the homeless, I've learned about them," says Megan. "So many of them are really sweet people, and they really are very grateful for everything."

She adds, "Christianity is a huge part of it too. It was definitely inspired by God. I know this sounds cliche, but God has blessed me so much in my life and I want to show my gratitude by giving back. By listening to his prompting, it's like I'm giving back in my own way.

"I know I'm giving that much money out of my salary every month, but every time I give, God has never not repaid me in one way or another."

How long will she keep buying tacos for the hungry? There is no endgame. "Right now, I can afford to do this," says Megan. "I hate just passing through and not feeling like I'm doing something."

Then the postscript for agreeing to this interview in the first place: "If this story inspires someone to, like, when they see a homeless person, just buy them a meal, that would be amazing."

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