Features

Gourmet Meals Offered to the Hungry in People’s Park: By LYDIA GANS

Special to the Planet
Friday October 01, 2004

People’s Park is not just a park—it’s an institution. It’s home to all sorts of people, gardeners, hopeful athletes, dancers, poets and musicians, and many of Berkeley’s poor, homeless and hungry. 

In the course of a year the park hosts a variety of events and a big annual bash celebrating the park’s anniversary, now in its 36th year. And in the course of every week a great variety of food appears in the park for distribution to diverse but hungry people. There are drop-offs of quantities of surplus bread, cakes and other goods from local markets and from time to time a group will bring their left-overs from a fancy dinner party. 

Organizations provide regular meals. Progressive, service-oriented Catholic Workers serve breakfasts, social justice activists Food Not Bombs serve vegetarian dinners weekday afternoons. Sometimes the Hari Krishnas or a church group will show up with a meal. The food activities are centered around the stage. There is a log to set the dishes on for servers that don’t bring their own tables and there are plenty of pleasant places for folks to sit and enjoy their meals. 

Since last March another meal serving has been appearing at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and the word has gone out that these are some delicious meals. Last Thursday for example, people had a choice of any or all of the many dishes—pasta with sausages, seasoned mashed potatoes, a vegetarian tofu and squash dish, fish sticks, and a lovely mixed green salad. There was tea and Pepsi to drink and Ghirardelli chocolate squares for desert. Almost 200 people enjoyed that meal. 

The people who prepare and serve these meals are not strangers on the scene. Ina Ehrenfeucht has been coordinator of Dorothy Day House meal programs for fourteen years. J.C. Orton and his Catholic Worker Night on the Streets van are a familiar sight in the park and the streets providing food for the hungry and homeless. Richard Weaver, who has worked as a chef and caterer and loves to cook, has been cooking for friends, homeless and housed, for many years. Other members of their crew have experienced homelessness and are equally committed to serving good food to the community.  

They are all volunteers. They got together because there was a need, a sudden gap in the fabric of the food network providing for the homeless and poor people. For 30 years the Berkeley Emergency Food and Housing Project (BEFHP) has been providing a number of services for the poor, including the Quarter Meal. It’s a hot meal served every weekday afternoon costing a quarter (though nobody is turned away for lack of a quarter). Quarter Meal is prepared and served at Trinity Methodist Church at Bancroft and Dana.  

But times are tough. Agencies providing social services for the needy are confronting serious erosion of their funding from both government and private sources. BEFHP runs more than a half dozen different programs—and this costs a lot of money. They had to reduce their expenses which meant setting priorities and cutting programs. They decided to focus more on homelessness than on hunger, a terrible decision to have to make. A big expense is paying at least a minimum wage and providing decent benefits for their staff. Ironically, most of the people working at the BEFHP are themselves living marginally, and if they were laid off they would immediately become clients of the agency. Cutting out two days of the Quarter Meal was the least painful way to go. 

When the cutback was announced, Ina called Richard, Richard called some of his friends who like to cook, they connected with J.C. Orton and they all agreed that they had to fill the gap. Officially they’re sponsored by Night on the Streets, much of their food comes from St. Vincent de Paul, BEFHP gives them a small stipend for paper plates and such, and this dedicated crew of cooks gives their collective time and energy and love. 

“Ina and I are sort of directors” Richard says, but “there’s nobody in charge. If Eric or Jim comes up with an idea, fine...” 

Getting those meals out every Thursday and Friday is a big commitment. Richard says he is very aware that “I can’t screw up and not show up one day ... most of the people who come to the meals are friends of mine.” 

Ina is pragmatic about her motivation. “It’s a job that needs to be done. A need which needs to be filled,” she says, but admits “I enjoy doing it.” 

Kevin Foos who comes from a Catholic Worker house in Rochester, New York, says “It’s a good way to do—feed people, fill them up not only with nourishment but good feelings and good love.” 

Philip Williams, who has worked as a cook and been through some hard times, says, “Seeing people eat has always made me happy. ... If people can start their day with a good meal they can make it through the day well. Or end their day well.” 

No one knows how long they will have to continue doing this, if and when Quarter Meal can resume the five days a week meal servings at Trinity, or what will happen when the weather gets cold and rainy.  

Ina and Richard and the rest of the crew have another vision too—they want to establish a catering business of their own. They’ve already had one successful gig and a promise of more. In the meantime, they are giving something very special to the community. What other city can boast about being able to offer free gourmet meals, to anyone in need, prepared by a group of great cooks—with a lot of love and respect included. 

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