A Day at the "Hippie Kitchen"

The Hospitality Kitchen, located on the corner of "Skid Row" and known as the "Hippie Kitchen", serves meals to the homeless three days a week. The Kitchen is run by a movement called the Los Angeles Catholic Worker and has been in operation for more than 30 years. I spent a day volunteering at the Kitchen to see first hand how a non-profit is surviving in a struggling economy.

An Early Start

I arrived at the "Hippie Kitchen" at a quarter to seven and was immediately put to work watering plants in the garden. The garden is filled with tables where people can sit and eat, and provides a little beauty in an otherwise unattractive neighborhood. I arrived a little earlier than the other volunteers so when I was done watering plants I ate my  McDonalds breakfast I had picked up on my drive over.

There Can Never Be Too Much Lettuce

I was joined by about ten other volunteers on this Saturday morning, most of whom had volunteered at the kitchen at least once before. After gathering around in a circle and saying a prayer to start (or in my case watching others pray), the volunteers were split into groups to go to different stations. I was assigned to chop lettuce and cabbage along with about five other volunteers. I found out that chopping cabbage was much harder than chopping lettuce because you had to make the cabbage into tiny little pieces so that it wouldn't hurt anyone's teeth. 

A Few Tears Never Hurt Anyone

Except me that is! After chopping lettuce and cabbage for more than an hour I was re-assigned to chop up some pieces of turkey meat. Unfortunately for me, the turkey meat station was right next to the station where people were chopping onions, and I couldn't hold the tears back.

Washing Dishes Can Be Fun

Somehow I was able to survive the turkey meat/onions, and at around 9:30 a.m. we started serving what we had spent the past hour and a half preparing. However, there were only so many items that needed to be served, so I got stuck with dishwashing duty while the other volunteers got to serve and socialize. 

My Time Finally Arrived

After being stuck on dishwashing duty for what seemed like an eternity, I finally was given the chance to serve and interact with people of "Skid Row". I did not disappoint! I was given a pan filled with turkey stuffing that didn't really look anything like stuffing, and was told to dish it out, so I did, and as it turns out it was actually a pretty big hit (I could tell some of the other volunteers were getting a little jealous that everyone kept coming back to me for more stuffing). 

Cleanup Never Felt So Good

We stopped serving food at 11:30 am, though it felt as if it was already late in the day. All the volunteers helped to clean up the kitchen (I got to mop the floor) and we ended the day with a closing prayer. While the day was certainly eventful, I came away with a new appreciation for the folks who do this every week, because the thanks you get is limited, and a lot of effort goes in to making the kitchen run smoothly. I also left with a bit more confidence that there are enough people out there willing to donate their time even in this period of recession.

Click here to see my interview with Mike Wisniewski, Supervisor of the "Hippie Kitchen"