The COVID-19 crisis has forced the Cathedral Kitchen, the largest meal provider in Camden, one of the poorest cities in the nation, to maintain its commitment to feeding the hungry with limited resources, while taking precautions to prevent spreading the disease.
The organization has had to make drastic adaptations but, so far, it has been able to keep its daily commitments.
Currently located on Federal Street in Camden, the Cathedral Kitchen has had 44 years of experience in feeding the city’s most vulnerable individuals and families. Over the years, it has grown into a major operation that enlists an army of volunteers, and now includes a dental clinic and a job training program, among other services.
Because of the pandemic, it is currently operating as a large scale and sophisticated version of how it originally started, when a small group of individuals, committed to their Christian ideals, passed out sandwiches to hungry men and women.
But it is still feeding its usual number of hungry people — more than 300 a day, Monday through Saturday — as well as continuing its community outreach to provide food to vulnerable seniors and children, and to the Camden’s homeless population.
The dining room has been shut down. Also temporarily suspended is the Cathedral Kitchen volunteer program. Gone are the 175 volunteers who helped out each week, leaving the 42 staff members to do extra work, in teams working split shifts, to take up the slack.
These days, kitchen staff are preparing and distributing pre-wrapped meals and bagged food to-go at the front entrance during regular service hours.
The Cathedral Kitchen is continuing to provide meals for Volunteers of America’s eight homeless shelters and halfway houses seven days a week.
The pandemic has brought a financial challenge and the need for careful planning. The organization has been buying more food, anticipating that donations will drop off – and that the need to provide meals will increase as other social service agencies shut down or limit their operations.
“Many social service nonprofit organizations in our community are being forced to close, not only because of limited financial resources, but also to protect their volunteers who are often seniors and most at-risk should they be exposed to someone with the virus,” said Carrie Kitchen-Santiago, Cathedral Kitchen’s executive director. “At the same time, we believe we’re going to see a drastic increase in need over the coming months, or even years, and we’re going to need the support of the community to ensure our most vulnerable neighbors can weather the long-lasting economic effects of this crisis.
“We are taking these precautions to protect all members of our community, while also recognizing many of our guests do not have the means to stock up on groceries,” she added. “When your bank account is near zero or you don’t have your own place to call home, planning for a global pandemic is almost impossible, and the only food many of our guests eat is the meal they get here.”
The Cathedral Kitchen, as always, is grateful for financial donations. It also is asking people to donate bottled water, sandwiches (cheese and turkey or beef bologna, made by individuals wearing gloves and disinfected services), and individually packaged snacks in bulk (for example, small Ziploc bags filled with cheese and crackers, granola bars, trail mix, or other snacks).
The operation has suspended its Project Smiles Dental Clinic, Culinary Arts Job Training Program, and CK Café and Catering.
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