By RUSS BROWN • Photos by Matt Johnson
If you are driving or walking in downtown Louisville around noon any day of the week, you may notice a crowd of people gathered near the Cathedral of the Assumption at 433 South Fifth Street.
They are the homeless and working poor beneficiaries of the “Feed My Neighbor” program, a mammoth undertaking by the church with roots dating to the Depression days of the 1930s.
The organization’s mission statement reads: “The Feed My Neighbor program benefits the good work that takes place at the (Tommy) Sandefur Dining Room. Our goal is to care for our neighbors by serving up dignity one meal at a time.”
The number of needy the program serves is astonishing. According to Director of Worship Maggie Cyphers, who was the driving force behind formation of the modern version of the church’s outreach, the program feeds over 50,000 people each year, or an average of more than 150 per day at a cost of about $150,000 including all expenses such as utilities and maintenance for the dining room/ kitchen and security.
“For the first 20 days of the month, it’s all homeless people,” Cyphers said. “But as we get to the end of the month, we also cater to the working poor because they are people who have unexpected car repairs or medical expenses. Life happens and we don’t say no to anybody. We don’t care how well-dressed you are, you get a hot meal. We get men, women and children.”
Over 300 volunteers share in helping with the daily operation and businesses in Louisville chip in with donations of food, including Kroger, Paul’s Fruit Market, Garden Gate Fruit Market and Deli, Gallrein Farms, Sweet 16 Farm and Dare to Care. Twice monthly hot meals are delivered to serve from Derby City Gaming.
A typical lunch menu consists of a soup of the day and sandwich, along with salad and/or fruit, a cold or hot drink, depending on the season, and dessert. An old standby is a bologna sandwich, a nod toward the item that was served during the depression. On the second Sunday of every month, St. Albert The Great Catholic Church parishioners and youth group provide a cookout of hot dogs and hamburgers, rain or shine.
Special meals are provided during the holidays. Vincenzo’s provides Thanksgiving dinner, and their staff serves it. “On that day we have 200 to 250 people because word gets out that Vincenzo’s is going to be here,” Cyphers said.
In December, instead of a cookout St. Albert’s prepares an Italian dinner and, with an appearance of Santa Claus, provides a Christmas party for the homeless.
The person who makes all of this run smoothly is native Hawaiian Paul Tadatada, whose official title is Coordinator of Daily Lunch Program, or more informally, “kitchen manager.” Among his many duties, he is responsible for purchase of food and supplies, coordinating donations, scheduling volunteers, creating and using a budget, and working with the Louisville Health Dept. to maintain all food safety practices required in the codes.
He had very good training, having served as a district manager of Wendy’s Restaurants in Louisville. He made the switch six years ago, explaining that he was looking for a job with less stress and fewer hours.
My background with Wendy’s was very useful,” Tadatada said. “Skills such as budgeting, ordering, organization, food safety and food production are all needed in what I do today.
Tadatada, 64, is a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church and became aware of the kitchen through his Fishermen bible study group. He replaced Steve Lee, who retired.
Tadatada said the position appealed to him because he is a member of Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service order, and has long been a supporter of those in need. He said one of the homeless men especially struck a chord with him because he had known him as a member of the bible study years ago.
“After his mother died, he moved away from our area,” Tadatada explained. “During the intervening time, he got into a bad relationship, lost everything and became homeless. I and my fellow bible study men had no idea until he came to the soup kitchen to get food. This reconnection enabled us to help him, not only with daily meals and a bike to get around town. He was able to be independent and happy again, but who knows what would have happened if there weren’t places like ours available to help.”
The kitchen was financed with the help of church member Christy Brown, who convinced Brown and Williamson Tobacco CEO Tommy Sandefur to donate $1 million for construction of the kitchen in 2003.
Michelle Owings, an at-large member of the Parish Council and a volunteer in the kitchen, said the experience has been an eye-opener for her and her family.
“It has been an education for all of us,” she said. “I assumed, before I was involved in Let’s Dance, that our guests in Sandefur Dining Hall were all homeless. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There are so many reasons that people need a meal--some don’t earn enough to feed themselves from one paycheck to the next, some are between jobs, some are students who can’t afford food.
“I will never forget meeting a delightful professional lady who shared that at one point during college, she was living in her car, attending school, had no money for food and was a frequent guest at Sandefur. Her story still brings me to tears. I just can’t imagine trying to be successful at school, or life, on an empty stomach, and it was very gratifying learning that the Feed My Neighbor program helped her get through those tough times.”
Tadatada said he has noticed a disturbing trend in those taking advantage of the meals.
“I am concerned that the numbers have grown over the years,” he said. “This past year our numbers were greater than they were before Covid. We see more new faces every day, so it’s not only the same people coming to get help daily.”
The primary fund-raiser for the program is “Let’s Dance Louisville,” the brainchild of Syphers, who came up with the idea after months of hard work trying to develop a fund-raiser that would appeal to the church membership and didn’t involve any form of gambling. She came up with the idea of “Let’s Dance Louisville” because her favorite TV show was “Dancing with the Stars.”
What was to become the charitable arm of Sandefur was an immediate hit when it debuted in 2014 at the Seelbach Hotel, raising nearly $74,000. Since then it has averaged $142,500 per year, the bulk of Feed My Neighbor’s budget of $150,000.
For Let’s Dance, 12 people are invited to participate as celebrity dancers -- “they’re the ones that make the magic happen,” Cyphers said. They recruit their friends, family and co-workers to support them by buying tickets to vote for them. They are also asked to donate items for auction.
Following the first event at the Seelbach, Let’s Dance was moved to the Marriott to accommodate larger crowds. The 10th anniversary event (it wasn’t held in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic) will be held on June 15. Tickets are available at letsdancelouisville.org. To donate to Feed My Neighbor go to Feedmyneighbor.org.