$125-a-Plate Brunch Raises Money Toward Restaurant for Homeless

A homeless-advocacy group wants to turn its outdoor soup line into a restaurant that eventually will be staffed by its homeless patrons.

The restaurant, scheduled to open in early January, will feed about 120 people a day, said Rhonda Meister, director of the St. Joseph Center in Venice, during a fund-raiser Sunday at Stanley’s restaurant in Woodland Hills. The $125-a-plate luncheon raised $10,000 toward the restaurant’s start-up costs of $84,000, Meister said.

St. Joseph Center, which has provided services to the homeless since 1981, will operate the restaurant.

The project initially will provide a quiet, spacious atmosphere in which homeless people can eat. To avoid lines, reservations for the 40 spaces will be required, Meister said.

“This way, we give people enough space and we give ourselves enough time,” she said. “People can plan their days around when they’re going to eat.”

The restaurant, which will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, will not charge for the meals, Meister said. Six to eight months after it opens, the restaurant may be used to teach homeless people food-preparation skills and prepare them for work in a regular restaurant, she said.

“We’re looking at providing the full range of food preparation skills,” Meister said.

Several restaurants in the San Fernando Valley and the Westside already have expressed their support for the project and Meister said some have made tentative offers of their kitchens for on-the-job training.

“People who provide food for people really care about people who are hungry,” Meister said.

Eventually, she said, the restaurant may be opened during off-hours to the public.