CLEVELAND — With violent crime and homicide rates on the rise in Cleveland, renowned chef Brandon Chrostowski is launching a new program he hopes will make the community safer.
Starting Wednesday, EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute will be collecting guns from all those wishing to voluntarily turn them in. Each participating customer will then receive a $250 credit (per gun) for any EDWINS location, with the ultimate goal of the initiative being to "get 100 guns off the streets of Cleveland by the end of July."
"This program has to work! We cannot fail and will do whatever is needed to save lives and get guns off our streets," Chrostowski said in a statement. "I sincerely hope this catches on and other businesses follow suit. Let's make Cleveland the model for how to do this."
According to a release from EDWINS, homicides in Cleveland are up almost 20% from this point last year. The police department has also reported a rise in armed robberies and assaults.
EDWINS says all firearms can be collected "100% anonymously" at all establishments. They will be stored in locked safes before being taken to the Cleveland Division of Police's 4th District station at the end of each day.
Chrostowski has long been known for his community activism, both locally with his efforts to help prison inmates seeking work after release as well as internationally in countries like war-torn Ukraine. Recently, he was also a finalist for Outstanding Restauranteur at the prestigious James Beard Awards.
"For $250, that's a lot of meat," Chrostowski excitedly told 3News Thursday when interviewed about his latest project. "That's like 75 pounds of chicken. That's a whole lot of steak. If they turned in five guns, you could buy a whole cow.”
Chrostowski has been particularly disturbed by the shootings and killings he's been hearing about in Cleveland this spring and early summer, saying he won't wait for gun reform laws to stop gun violence.
"So, the new initiative is to stop this gun violence, or at least slow it down," he explained. "What's going on right now [to stop it] isn't working; it's getting worse. When you see babies dying — and babies are 30 years old, they're someone's baby — it hurts. You see that and it hurts, and you just want to do something."
According to him, the idea here is to make guns "the new currency." He's currently convincing sponsors to fund his idea.
"I'm unable to run a business profitably, giving everything away," he admitted, "so I'm finding people that believe in solutions, and they can give in that way."
His hope is that more sponsors will then fund businesses of all sorts across Cleveland.
"I think hurdles in expanding this are finding the levels of sponsorship to the tens of millions, because it's going to cost a lot of money to do this city-wide in every facet of someone's life," he said. "So, from car payments to rent payments to grocery to clothes, because if guns could become our new currency, it would make sense to buy a car with it instead of steal a car with it."
On Thursday, WKYC watched as Chrostowski bought back his first gun. He was relieved to see the initiative is gaining traction.
"The first one's always the hardest," he said, looking at the weapon. "You think of this and, just like your first guest in a restaurant, this is our first one to contribute to the program, and we're just proud to say, 'Hey, it can work.' And now it's time for others to jump in."