Lord’s Kitchen hits the road

Feeding operation for the homeless now rotates among area churches on a new monthly basis.DOWNTOWN GLENDALE -- The embattled Lord’s Kitchen, a program that feeds Glendale’s homeless, has itself become transient.

Organizers began rotating the location of the Lord’s Kitchen among local churches on a monthly basis starting in September. Central Christian Church of Glendale hosted the meal program the first month, and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on North Brand Boulevard will house the kitchen throughout October.

Lord’s Kitchen, which provides a free noontime meal Monday through Friday, was hosted by the Salvation Army at its Glendale social services building on Central Avenue for most of its 15 years.

But the kitchen’s proximity to the Salvation Army’s after-school care and senior housing programs led the group in June to institute a controversial screening plan requiring all kitchen patrons to display an official form of identification. Those not from Glendale were also turned away.

Strong opposition to the screening plan from the homeless community and the nine churches involved in the Lord’s Kitchen program forced the Salvation Army to scrap the plan within a week.

But the army asked Lord’s Kitchen participants to start looking for alternate sites to host the program.

The rotating venue of the kitchen seems to be working far with few hitches, said David Earle of Food for Body and Soul, who has taken charge of organizing the program.

“It is easy this month because St. Mark’s is hosting our Sunday feeding program as well, but next month we will have our weekdays at First Lutheran and our weekend feeding at Holy Family [Catholic Church],” Earle said. “It gets confusing for these folks, but we have an 800 number and the locations are spreading through word of mouth, so it is working.”

Even so, daily attendance at the Lord’s Kitchen is down to about 40 people, down from a peak of about 70 to 80 people prior to the Salvation Army instituting its identification program, Earle said.

“It never quite got back up to that,” he said. “But assuming the YMCA opens its cold weather shelter on Dec. 1, I expect our numbers to go way up then.”

The Salvation Army is still involved in the operation, cooking and serving food twice a month and providing baked goods and pastries for the kitchen’s patrons to take home with them, Earle said.

“It seems like things are working great,” said Larry Stromberg, a social service aide with the army, as he handed out baked goods to Lord’s Kitchen attendees on St. Mark’s Friday. “People know where to go and David Earle has been very good at taking over and making sure things run smoothly.”

The rotating program works fine for Rocky Porter, 49, who has lived in the Glendale area for about six years and uses the Lord’s Kitchen periodically.

“The Beeline usually runs right by the churches so it is no problem,” said Porter, who is homeless but is currently staying with a friend. “The Beeline doesn’t take more than 10 to 15 minutes to get anywhere in the city. As long as you can get a meal, that is all that matters.”

Earle’s ultimate goal is to have about 12 churches lined up to host the program for one month a year.

So far, he has volunteers lined up until January.

“It is nice because there is a lot of interaction between the different churches, because some host the program, others serve food and others help provide security,” Earle said. “That is one side benefit of doing it this way.”

It shouldn’t be a problem for Earle to find takers to cover other months, said Lisa Marie Allmon of Burbank, who does evangelical work with the area’s homeless and uses the kitchen along with her son, Isaiah, 4.

“This keeps these people going, it is a lifesaver for them,” Allmon said, adding that she wasn’t able to use the kitchen during the screening program because of her Burbank address. “If people want to see God in their churches then they will volunteer to host this program, because God honors to those who reach out to the down and out.”

To find out how to volunteer to help with the Lord’s Kitchen, either through serving food or providing a venue in future months, call Earle at (818) 957-5893.

Food for Body and Soul is also seeking a venue to provide flu vaccines for the homeless.

The toll-free number for Lord’s Kitchen locations is (866) 295-SOUL (7685). Meal times are 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.