Love in the Air at the Love Kitchen

Today we visited the Love Kitchen of Knoxville! This soup kitchen was founded by two sisters (Helen and Ellen) that used to work in an emergency room nearby. They would notice that while waiting to be seen by doctors or nurses, patients frequently would go without food because they didn't have the means to afford it. They resolved to create an environment in which anyone could walk through the doors and be fed a hot meal, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. And so, the admirable cause of the Love Kitchen was born.
Today, some of us cleaned out the can room, organizing and categorizing the thousands of cans at the kitchen. We made the food in the kitchen (creating a total of 1100 meals!!!), with a menu of mac and cheese, beef stew, bread, and other yummy things. We washed dishes, separated good and bad produce for the grocery pickup that takes place at the kitchen, cut cakes, sorted and folded clothes for the clothing drive, and helped with general organization of the administrative department. It was a fulfilling experience and our results and impact were certainly palpable. However, one of the employees at the Love Kitchen made various remarks that introduced significant discomfort to us as a group. Although we were all clearly impacted by his language, we made sure that it did not affect our productivity and continued to do the best work we could. The Love Kitchen depends heavily on volunteers, which is a noble thing, so we were more than happy to fulfill our important commitment despite the negativity. We are very proud of ourselves for this and will carry this spirit onward with us as we continue this week.

 Making food!

 It was hard to avoid getting splashed while we were rinsing the dishes!

Our group with the President and Assistant Director of the Love Kitchen, Patrick.