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By Dan Olson
December 11, 2000
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The founders of Minneapolis-based Loaves and Fishes Too opened a temporary dining hall in a church basement in the early 1980s to serve free meals to poor people. The "temporary" program starts its 20th year in January. Loaves and Fishes volunteers buy, prepare and serve more than 300,000 free meals a year at six sites. It is one of Minnesota's largest and longest running free food services.
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"The people that come here enjoy the experience so much they can't stop it. It's an addiction," said volunteer Diana Rosen.
Loaves and Fishes' numbers stretch the imagination. Four, five or six nights a week - depending on the dining hall - as many as 150 volunteers serve a hot, free meal to up to 1,500 people. Many of the volunteers are from religious groups. Diana Rosen, and 30 others from five Twin Cities synagogues, have served meals every other month for nearly 12 years at St. Stephen's Church in south Minneapolis, the first Loaves and Fishes site. Cooks arrive at 2 p.m., servers at 5 p.m.
"At promptly 5:30 we begin to serve, so timing is important, but we've got it down to a science after 12 years," Rosen said.
Now, deep winter has arrived. The evening temperature outside St. Stephen's Church in south Minneapolis is in the single digits. Men and women - mostly young - wait in line outside. When the door opens, most head for the coffee dispenser, grab a chair and chew the fat with a neighbor before dinner.
The volunteers this evening are from St. Edward's Catholic parish in Bloomington. Florence Schultz, a volunteer for 19 years, says working for Loaves and Fishes fulfills a need to help, and fills a gap left by the death of her husband three years ago.
"It's the camaraderie which I need, being able to serve people who don't have near what I have," Schultz said.
Teenagers from St. Edward's receive last-minute instructions on handing out food. The diners are served, treated as guests, according to the Loaves and Fishes philosophy. Except for people who are drunk or disorderly, no one is refused a meal; no one is required to prove they are poor. There is no sermon, no religious arm-twisting. Loaves and Fishes staff advise people who need housing, drug treatment or medical care where they can get help. Although started by a Catholic nun and priest, the Minneapolis Loaves and Fishes is not affiliated with a religious group.
A 43-year-old man who moved to Minneapolis from Memphis six months ago says he eats a Loaves and Fishes meal four times a week, then looks for a shelter bed for the night.
"I go over and wait for the shelter, go in the shelter and see if I can win a bed for the night," he said.
The man says he picks up day labor jobs for $8 an hour. His complaint is he can't save enough to pay for a permanent place to live. With no permanent housing, he's on the street more than he wants, He is a target for the police and their enforcement of the loitering law, as well as the $70 to $100 fine attached to it.
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"We're at a place right now where they save 40 percent of your income and after three months they give it to you to get a place. Our place where we were staying was condemned," she said.
Loaves and Fishes raises its $500,000 budget from donations and foundation grants. The irony of soup kitchens during the best economic times in the country's history is not lost on Loaves and Fishes site coordinator Jim O'Sullivan. The silver lining, he says, is how the need brings out the best in people who have the means to help.
"You've got people coming here 20 years, once a month, on time every time and providing enough food for everybody. So, it's like if you didn't have that need you wouldn't see this amazing characteristic that's there within these people," O'Sullivan said.
The Minneapolis organization begins its 20th year in January and is planning to open a seventh dining hall.
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