Banquet for the needy

EVERY DAY they line up in a church parking lot, hundreds of seniors, adults, teen mothers, infants and children, all standing patiently outside a heavy red door that bears a simple cardboard sign: "Dinner, 4 p.m."

Some haven't eaten that day or the day before. Some are there because they had to choose between buying food and being able to pay their electric bill.

This scene plays out day after day in Camden, just a few miles from the wealth of bustling Center City Philadelphia and tony Jersey suburbs Moorestown and Haddonfield. With nearly half of Camden's residents living below poverty level, many eat their only meal each day behind this red door - from the angels at Cathedral Kitchen.

For the past 31 years, the staff at this little-known nonprofit soup kitchen on Federal Street near Broadway has been volunteering time, food and money to make hundreds of well-balanced meals for the poor. Monday through Friday, every week of the year, the kitchen serves dinner from 4 to 5 p.m., with a variety of entrees, side dishes and desserts ready for anyone who shows up at the door, no questions asked.

Since its inception in 1976, when four college students inspired by Mother Teresa decided to do something for the community, Cathedral Kitchen has quietly grown to prepare 88,000 meals a year - 5 percent of them to children - with the help of thousands of volunteers and three devoted cooks who operate in a cramped, noncommercial kitchen.

This year, Cathedral Kitchen will move from its crowded, make-shift space in an old school gymnasium to a state-of-the-art kitchen and banquet hall down the street, a sleek, modern building designed by one of Philadelphia's most renowned restaurant architects. The move to this 15,000-square-foot masterpiece will breathe life into the charity - and ensure that the mission continues for at least another three decades.

"It's going to be amazing," said executive director Karen Talarico. "We'll even have a medical clinic, and a culinary arts training program" for the unemployed.

Cathedral Kitchen dates to 1976, when four 20-something friends heard Mother Teresa speak at a Philadelphia bicentennial celebration. Inspired by her message that to make a difference you don't have to do something huge, just something heartfelt, the students returned to Camden and pooled $146 for their first supermarket run. They began their mission at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Federal Street, handing out bologna and salami sandwiches and soup to the hungry. The church let them use a room to launch a pilot program.

Cathedral Kitchen dates to 1976, when four 20-something friends heard Mother Teresa speak at a Philadelphia bicentennial celebration. Inspired by her message that to make a difference you don't have to do something huge, just something heartfelt, the students returned to Camden and pooled $146 for their first supermarket run. They began their mission at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Federal Street, handing out bologna and salami sandwiches and soup to the hungry. The church let them use a room to launch a pilot program.

"We came out of [Mother Teresa's speech] on fire and knew we needed to do something," said Domenic Vallone, one of the founders. "People were always coming at all hours and banging on the church door [for food], so we thought we could improve on that."

Word of the program quickly spread to churches throughout the area, and a casserole program was born. From 500 to 1,000 congregants per month would prepare different types of casseroles in their homes and bring them to the Cathedral Kitchen, which would freeze and defrost them as needed to feed hungry local residents.

That system continued until 1991, when casseroles were replaced with meals cooked on the premises, hundreds of entrees prepared daily by a husband and wife team who took over the kitchen with their gourmet fare - and never left.

These days, Clyde "Pop" Jones, 81, and his devoted wife, Theresa, along with Sister Jean Spena, head into an approximately 10-foot-square kitchen at 8 every morning to make the day's meal. They bread fish, mix meatloaf, cook potatoes, boil greens, and essentially, make magic as they create 400 dinners with one standard electric stove, refrigerator and microwave. A double convection oven is the only piece of commercial equipment in the kitchen.

"How do we do it? You go home and you pray and the next day you come back and do it all over again," said Theresa Jones. "If you don't feel a calling to do this type of work, don't do it. But when you see kids having a good meal . . . it means something."

The recipes all come from feisty Louisiana native Pop Jones, a World War II veteran who was an Army cook before helping liberate a concentration camp at the end of the war and returning to the Camden area to live. Jones was so moved by the work being done at the kitchen when his wife started working there in 1991 that he retired from his job at a car dealership and joined her.

"I don't think about my back hurting [during the day]," said Jones. "I think about serving the people. When you put this apron on, you serve the people."

Then there's sous chef Spena, who, when she's not quipping back and forth with the curmudgeonly Pop over a recipe, is using a desk calendar to schedule and coordinate 3,200 volunteers per year to serve and clean up each evening. This past week alone, a Buddhist group, Muslim group, local school children, and even local professionals have taken time out to serve the poor. Volunteers are booked for every dinner through July.

"This is such a melting pot," said Theresa Jones. "I asked the Buddhist group that was in here this week, 'Why do you do it?' They said, 'Because you are helping others and helping yourself.' "

Today, Cathedral Kitchen stays afloat through food donations from places such as B.J.'s Wholesale Club and Philadbundance, as well as government grants. Each meal costs about $3.50 to produce, and rent is free, thanks to the gymnasium's owner, the adjacent Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Today, Cathedral Kitchen stays afloat through food donations from places such as B.J.'s Wholesale Club and Philadbundance, as well as government grants. Each meal costs about $3.50 to produce, and rent is free, thanks to the gymnasium's owner, the adjacent Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

But one look at the miniscule kitchen and cramped, table-lined gymnasium is all it takes to know the charity has outgrown its space.

This summer, ground will break on a $3.5 million project that will give the kitchen a chance to expand its reach.

Cathedral Kitchen is raising funds to finance a 15,000-square-foot complex at 1514 Federal St. that will allow its staff to serve 100,000 meals a year, open a medical and dental clinic, start a culinary arts program to train the poor for jobs, and even offer kids a summer lunch program.

The facility, expected to open early in 2008, will be designed by Philadelphia's DAS Architects, the gurus behind places such as Le Bec Fin, Bliss, Ardmore's Plate and Gulph Mills' Savona.

"What we are excited about is that they [the Cathedral Kitchen board] wanted a project that would be uplifting," said David Schultz, president of DAS Architects. "So we're doing a place we think will be spiritual."

The building will use recycled products, and an abundance of natural light and natural ventilation to save on operating costs, but it will be anything but spare. A fountain in the foyer and a 300-seat family-style dining room will welcome guests each day.

"We are so excited," said Talarico. "It's like famous architects - doing a soup kitchen! We've been working on having this for years." *

Cathedral Kitchen, 642 Market St., Camden, 856-964-6771 or www.cathedralkitchen.org.