Letter from the CEO: November 2019

With all due respect to every chef in every restaurant in Denver, I am pretty sure there is no chef who has a harder job than our chefs at the Mission. Imagine that you are the head chef at our Lawrence Street Community Center (LSCC), and you have to think about preparing 1,500 meals for the day. You have limited kitchen staff and often are relying on program participants who work in the kitchen to fill in the gaps. You also have to manage up to 50 volunteers coming in and out of the kitchen each day.

In addition, most of the food is donated, so you have to think about how to prepare a meal for that day with the food donations you have available.

But as we often say, “it all starts with a meal.” The road to recovery and the path off of the street often begins with humbling yourself to come to the Mission and get a meal. When you do come, you will not only find good food, but a group of staff and volunteers who want to encourage you and serve you. We work hard to try to develop relationships with the people we serve, which is why our staff at LSCC know most of our guests by name.

That is also the reason why Thanksgiving is so important to us. This holiday is a chance to serve more people and bless them with the comfort of home cooking and a big helping of love. (Pile it high and deep!) We believe this is the kind of love that Jesus has for all of us, and we want to share this with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing homelessness.

Although it is challenging work, our chefs believe it is a blessing to make meals for people in need and to create something delicious every day of the week, not just on holidays!

This Thanksgiving, we want you to know…we are thankful for you!