The Cathedral Kitchen provides nutritious meals for impoverished residents of Camden.
Recently, the Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club hosted Alexandra Wills, director of the Cathedral Kitchen (CK), which is located in Camden. The CK provides nutritious meals for impoverished residents of Camden. The Moorestown Breakfast Rotary Club has been a supporting organization for several years.
Important information about CK and its services:
- CK serves dinner Mondays through Fridays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and lunch on Saturdays from noon to 1 p.m.
- Food served at CK is cooked on the premises, plated and served at the table; there is no “soup line.”
- The hot meal consists of an entrée, a vegetable or salad, a side dish and a beverage.
- It also provides meals for local after-school programs, groceries for low-income senior centers and sends donated food to local pantries, churches and soup kitchens that also serve its client population.
- In 2015, CK provided over 100,000 meals.
- The Culinary Arts Training Program and the Baking Arts Training Program operate concurrently for 17 weeks, twice per year. The two programs enroll approximately 60 students per year. Both programs include classroom instruction in culinary/baking arts, plus ServSafe certification training, life skills, financial literacy and interviewing skills training. Graduates are assisted with job placement and over 80 percent of graduates find employment during the first three months following graduation.
- In 2015, CK launched two social enterprise initiatives: a contract meal program serving local shelters and halfway houses and the CK Café, open for lunch and private parties. Along with an existing catering program, its social enterprises provide income for CK’s human services programs.
- Its case manager assists dinner guests and students with a variety of needs and provides referrals to other agencies that can help.
- Dental care services, including cleanings, fillings, extractions and dentures are provided by its on-site health suite. Since 2010, CK’s Project Smiles has been providing dental treatment to low-income residents of Camden, Pennsauken and Gloucester City, who have no dental insurance and are unable to afford the cost.
- On-site general health care screenings are provided in partnership with Project H.O.P.E.
- Demographic make-up of its guests is: approximately 45 percent African-American, 25 percent Hispanic and 31 percent Caucasian or other.
- 82 percent of its dinner guests are residents of Camden.
- 30 percent have not completed high school or earned a GED. Men outnumber women by about 3 to 1.
- Children make up about 12 percent of the guests; the elderly 20 percent.
- Many guests are homeless; others are living on welfare or SSI/SSD; some are employed but do not make enough money to pay for food, especially at the end of the month.
- Most guests walk or ride bikes to the CK; some come via public transportation.
- According to census statistics, 39 percent of Camden’s population lives below the federal poverty level — over a third of the residents.
