by John Sorce
Special to The Leaven
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Before the doors open at St. Mary’s Food Kitchen here, the work of feeding hundreds of hungry people has already begun.
On the third Monday of each month, volunteers from Curé of Ars Parish in Leawood gather before sunrise to load fresh food into vehicles, drive to St. Mary’s Food Kitchen and turn a mountain of ingredients into the parish’s famous taco salad meal.
“We always do the same meal because it’s very popular,” said Jacqueline Elbert, Curé’s parish coordinator and St. Mary’s Food Kitchen treasurer.
St. Mary’s Food Kitchen is located at 645 Nebraska Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“There are a lot of people out there who are homeless and hungry,” said Father John Riley, pastor of Curé. “We come together with several churches of all denominations throughout the metro area to feed the hungry.”
Each day of the week, a different church or faith-based organization serves lunch. On Aug. 17, that group was Curé.
Once at the kitchen, volunteer Doug Leibbrandt’s responsibilities include preparing the 120 pounds of meat, which is cooked ahead of time. One thing he always looks forward to is meeting people he otherwise never would have met.
“I get to see people that I’ve met through doing this over the years,” Leibbrandt said. “We call each other by first name, and having those conversations has helped build friendships that will last forever.”
The parish has an online sign up for volunteers and donations and, once Elbert knows how many people will be volunteering, she assigns tasks for the morning.
“Everyone has their role,” said Father Riley, “and it’s all hands on deck as we get ready.”
“We take an attitude of ‘How would we serve our children or family?’ And if we wouldn’t give [the meal] to our family, we’re not going to serve it to these people,” said Elbert. “So, besides the chips, everything we serve is fresh.”
LeeAnn Egger has been volunteering with the kitchen for seven years. When her husband retired, they both decided to get more involved with Curé and, by extension, the kitchen.
“There’s a great need, and we wanted to do some corporal works of mercy,” she said. “We signed up, and the more you do it, the more you see the need and want to continue.”
Her duties for the parish’s latest day at the kitchen included organizing donations into bins prior to getting everything loaded into cars.
“It can be chaotic when people are bringing food in the morning, so we came up with a system where we have bins with signs and sort out the donations before we head over to the kitchen,” Egger said.
Father Riley is grateful to lead a parish with the generosity that Curé has.
“This is a very generous parish,” he said. “We have the Catholic Charities food truck here once a month, and we fill that up. But we also receive cash donations on that weekend, which we then give to Catholic Charities so they can buy things like milk and eggs that we can’t keep in a hot panel truck.
“The people here are very generous in giving to those who are in need.”
Volunteers like Egger have been moved by the gratitude of those they serve.
“There are homeless, poor and other people who need a meal,” said Egger. “Sometimes you will see someone eat part of it and save the rest for later, because that might be the only meal they get all day.
“You can see how grateful they are, and it can be overwhelming.”
To learn more about St. Mary’s Food Kitchen, go to: stmaryfoodkitchen.org.
