The Franciscan Kitchen has served the hungry and homeless population in downtown Louisville Kentucky for over 40 years. Since January 1980, the Franciscan Shelter House, as it was originally known, grew from an old rented tavern to its current building which accommodates the cooking, preparation, and serving of an average of 400 to 500 meals each day to those in need.
Serving a hot, well-balanced meal to anyone who comes to their door is the hallmark of The Franciscan Kitchen. It is simply by the grace of God and the generosity of the community in which they work and minister to the poor that a dedicated team of staff, Franciscan Friars, and around 175 volunteers serve an area known as ‘Smoketown’. For decades, the Smoketown area has had endemic high crime, unemployment, and poverty rates. Each day, at the Franciscan Kitchen they offer their clients a freshly prepared entrée, salad, bread, dessert, and a choice of hot or cold drink.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they served guests in a dining room accommodating roughly 100 people. Responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, they quickly had to adapt and change how they operated. In compliance with public safety recommendations, they began serving meals in take-out containers with entrée, salad and dessert choices.
It takes a Village
With an estimate of one in six people struggling with hunger in the Louisville metro area, food donations and rescue work by large food banks have had an enormous impact in alleviating hunger. Chuck Mattingly, Executive Director of the Franciscan Kitchen said it best when asked about the continued operations of the Kitchen during the pandemic. “People are still hungry, so we will try to meet this need… until we can’t.”
The Franciscan Kitchen is fortunate to partner with both Kentucky Harvest and Dare to Care Food Bank, and receive fresh, frozen and canned food donations that go a long way toward reducing hunger locally. These organizations, whose mission is to ensure food finds its way to those in need, deliver more than 2 million pounds of donated food annually to 86 recipient organizations in Louisville and Southern Indiana.
Each morning, usually before the sun rises, a cook begins the necessary steps for the day: food is selected, washed, then ovens are fired up. The importance of having fully functioning ovens, enabling the Franciscan Kitchen to fulfill its mission, cannot be underestimated. But, as would be expected, the constant use of equipment will result in the eventual degradation and loss of even the best cooking equipment (such as stoves, ovens, and dishwashers).
Doing More with Less
Over the years they have expanded from a single cook range with one oven, to double ovens, then to meet the need, they supplemented the ranges with a double convection oven. A few years ago a second convection oven was finally installed.
Since then, the older convection oven has become unreliable and at the end of its life expectancy. Erratic behavior and not knowing from one day to the next if it is going to operate, the staff at the Franciscan Kitchen has spent thousands for repairs and yet, the oven is still undependable.
A request for funding for a replacement convection oven was submitted to the Anthonian Association. A new oven would allow them to prepare and continue to serve the growing number of meals without contending with an unpredictable appliances.
In 2020, thanks to the support of St Anthony’s followers and devotees, a grant in the amount of $7,000 was awarded to the Franciscan Kitchen (Louisville, Kentucky) to purchase new convection oven.
