By Sheree Stubblefield
Walk into First Congo at 1000 S Cooper and you are greeted by David Lindstrom, an elderly gentlemen who kindly asks you to sign in and gives you a marble. That marble will be your lunch ticket. You walk down the stairs, and you are greeted by volunteers offering you Mediterranean vegetables and sausage bread pudding with dessert that you take into a proper café to enjoy. After finishing, you drop your dishes into a bus tub and hear, “See you next time!”
The First Congo lunch program began over 11 years ago when the members of the church were handing out snack bags to the homeless. That grew into a biweekly clothes closet, where they offered soup. (While that no longer happens, they do accept clothing from time to time.) Steph Rollen, First Congo’s Food Justice Ministries Director who now heads up the program, says that they outgrew both these efforts because, “the need is big, the desire to give is big, and we are right next to one of the poorest areas in Memphis.”
The church then moved on to Food for Families, which was held the fourth Sunday of every month. Volunteers would set up shelves of donated food that anyone could come “shop” from. It grew from 50 people to 500 and again became too big to sustain. This led to what they currently offer, which is a five-days-a-week lunch from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., supplemented by a pantry, a garden, and an apiary.
The numbers at the lunch program depend on the day and time of month. Generally, at the end of the month, they see a larger amount of people (up to 150) due to a decrease in personal funds. The pantry is open Monday and Wednesdays and averages about 100 people. People can choose any five items what they want. After the reconstruction following last year’s fire is completed, First Congo will have more capacity for donations, and they can increase the pantry to three days.
Rollen comes up with all the recipes and has a background in juvenile justice. Twelve years ago, she decided to pursue her passion and attended culinary night school while living in Atlanta. Following graduation, she became a personal chef. When the second director left last July, she got a call from First Congo.
“I had been cooking for rich people a really long time, and it’s time for me to cook for people who need it,” she says.
Now she enjoys sharing her culinary talents with those in need. Her favorite part is getting to know people because “the cooking is the easy part. [I love] getting to explore where people have been, why they’re here. [And] the volunteers are unbelievable.”
She also loves figuring out how to make this a community builder.
“We’re being God’s hands, and if we weren’t helping to fill that need there would be more people in desperation near us,” she says.
Pastor Sonia Walker can be seen walking around talking and laughing with the diners. She has been at First Congo for the past 10 years. She calls herself the “food bank midwife” because when she taught school she realized when kids hadn’t eaten breakfast they weren’t ready for school that day.
“I’ve been drawn to the issue of hunger and its impact on [people’s] bellies and brains and their sense of self,” she says. “One of the most humiliating things that can happen to people is that they can’t feed themselves or their family.”
She believes in living in her calling, feeding her sheep, and that her faith can be acted out in a practical way. Hospitality can be offered in many ways, and she likes to do it through food.
First Congo needs volunteers in all stages of life, whether they are retired, on sabbatical, vacation, or in career transition. If you’re interested in donating, they receive donations from Whole Foods, Kroger, the farmers market, and more. Monetary donations are also welcome due to certain FDA and USDA restrictions, but if you have a garden or chickens, they welcome those as well.
“It is not all about you, and some of your ancestors have been in this place,” says Walker. “Somebody in your family story has had this experience. People need a place where they have a sense of value, worth and connection. It’s a spiritual marketplace because you get to give and receive. This is a place to come to welcome and be welcomed.”
Contact stephsyourchef@bellsouth.net if you are interested in be a part of the lunch program.
