A Night in the Museum

When I first showed up on the social service scene as the director of a local soup kitchen and emergency food pantry, many people would ask me “Where do you see yourself and your agency in ten years?”  My favorite answer was that I would become the curator of the Soup Kitchen Museum that showcased how we used to provide social services in the community.  The idea was that in ten years we would have managed to eliminate homelessness and the core root of hunger in our neighborhoods.

Several years ago our primary customers were the chronically homeless and the working poor.  Our agency was on the cutting edge of innovative approaches to move persons into sustainable lives through housing, education, and supportive services – we really believed that we could change the face of this community. But right now the reality was that more people than ever would wake up the following morning hungry and homeless.

The other night I was standing alone in the soup kitchen and food pantry long after all the staff, volunteers, and customers had gone for the evening.  I imagined it as a night in the museum, and thought how great it would be if nobody had to come by for help in the morning.

Unfortunately, many need our help.  Our agency is located in one of the hardest hit areas in the country, with unemployment at 11.5%, some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, and people living in their cars right in front of their abandoned houses.

I wondered for a moment how I would answer that ten-year question if someone asked it of me that day, and it occurred to me that I would answer it exactly in the same way -- but for completely different reasons.  The holy discontent to end hunger and homelessness still rages inside me but I know that the delivery of our services will need to be radically different to meet the needs of the New Hungry in my town.  Soup kitchens and food pantries were developed in the 1960’s to reach a very specific demographic, mainly in urban settings, and everyone knew in what part of town the soup kitchen could be found.  But now the hungry folks are in every part of town – gated communities, school yards, the libraries.  We don’t need to build a bigger soup kitchen to meet the needs of our communities; we need to re-imagine the delivery of our services.
My dream of becoming the curator of the soup kitchen and food pantry exhibit will come to realization by the end of this year as we transform it into marketplaces and free cafés in store fronts all over town; as we launch urban farming projects in backyard plots; as we load our mobile kitchens and take them into the hardest hit areas of our community; and as we serve meals out of school cafeterias all over the county instead of in an isolated location on the tough side of town.  Tickets for the museum are available now!