The Mission: September 2010
Meet David, one of our head chefs here at URM. Read on for his inspiring story in his own words.
When you’re cooking a great meal, you need just the right ingredients to bring out the flavor. It tooke more than 40 years, but God finally led me to the right ingredients to make something of my life here at Union Rescue Mission.
I spent almost my entire adult life filled with emptiness, wandering the country in a Winnebago and coping with methamphetamine.It wasn’t until I enrolled in culinary school in San Francisco, in 2006, that I found my life passion. I not only loved cooking, I was good at it! Before long, I landed a prestigious job as a chef, and cooking became all I cared about. I even stopped using meth – for a while.
Once I started using drugs again, I couldn’t handle it. I quit my job as a chef and headed south. But along the way, I stumbled into the Union Rescue Mission, and that’s when God started adding the right ingredients to my life. I started reading the Bible, I went to Bible studies and classes, and finally God gave me the chance to work as a cook in the kitchen – and I immediately knew this is where I belong.
In November 2009, URM offered me a permanent full-time job cooking for all the men, women, and children here. Every day we serve more than 3,000 meals. Last night I cooked dinner for 1,400 people! But I love every minute of it. What I’m really looking forward to, however, is Thanksgiving, when we’ll serve people one of the best turkey dinners they’ll ever eat. It’ll take me and my staff two weeks to get everything ready. We’ll start cooking almost 300 turkeys five days before. And during the day of our Thanksgiving celebration, I’ll end up working almost 30 hours straight without a break. But it’s all worth it.
There’s something special about serving people a great meal, especially all the people here at the mission. It’s like, for this one day, we all get to be one big family.
For me, cooking is a spiritual experience. Every day, I get to take all these ordinary ingredients and create something special out of them. And that’s exactly what God is doing in my own life.
I read Scripture every day, which are God’s instructions for a great life. I know if I follow His recipe, my life will turn out well. As far as I’m concerned, the kitchen is the most spiritual place in URM. After all, the mission was founded 120 years ago on feeding and taking care of guys like me. But it’s more than serving great meals – I’m just one more ingredient in God’s work transforming lives at Union Rescue Mission.
Click here to watch Chef David’s video, one of our featured “Stories from Skid Row”!
Love on the Menu
Growing up, Thanksgiving was one of the best days of the year. I couldn’t wait to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then we’d enjoy great food, lots of laughs, and so much love we thought we’d burst. So when we celebrate Thanksgiving at Union Rescue Mission, that’s how I want every man, woman, and child on Skid Row to feel. I want everyone who celebrates with us to walk away with memories and warm feelings they’ll never forget.
In less than three months, we’ll start turning San Pedro Street into our own personal living and dining room for thousands of special men, women, and children on Skid Row. Then we’ll send the aroma of more than 500 turkeys, with all the trimmings, throughout the streets as an invitation for everyone to come.
All these precious souls will arrive expecting a great meal — and they’ll get it. But really, they’ll get so much more. They’ll receive so much love they’ll think they’ll burst. Many of them have forgotten what love and family feels like. But when they experience it again on this one special day, some of them will find the courage to come into our mission and turn their lives around.
And that’s something to be truly thankful for.
Blessings,
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