South Side cafe and food pantry serve up kindness and so much more — one hearty meal at a time - Chicago Sun-Times

Two free Thanksgiving feasts this week — one a sit-down meal and the other for those who prefer to cook at home — reflect South Side community leaders’ acts of love and spontaneity.

Vivian Lambert, who runs The Park Cafe — a café-style kitchen inside Maple Park United Methodist Church — started volunteering to cook meals there eight years ago.

Lambert said she felt the need to “give back” because she and her family had benefitted from others’ generosity.

“I grew up in an era where everything revolved around the church,” she said.

Her family’s neighborhood church in Englewood helped Lambert’s brother start his career as a law clerk, even though doctors had told him he’d never work because he had sickle-cell anemia.

“The [church] was so community-minded,” Lambert said. “I never forgot that.”

Lambert got a boost in her fledgling career when she was chosen with four other students for a program at Argonne National Laboratory designed to give inner-city high-school graduates a job in their area of interest. She enjoyed drawing buildings and wanted to do drafting work.

Argonne encouraged Lambert to test into college, and she did. She then worked more than 20 years at Sears, selling appliances to the construction industry.

“One indelible mark on my life is the help that I received from other people,” Lambert said. “That’s why I enjoy being at The Park Cafe.”

Vivian Lambert, Park Cafe manager, discusses meal planning at the cafe. Meals are served at Maple Park United Methodist Church.

The cafe — one of five programs run by non-profit The Seeds Center of Maple Park — serves free meals from noon to 2 p.m. every Wednesday and Friday. The Seeds Center also runs exercise and cultural programs for seniors and a computer center for job searches and skills training, among other activities.

One of this week’s cafe meals features a pork roast, baked chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers chopped into a mix of spring, romaine and iceberg lettuce.

“Everyone is welcome,” Lambert said. “No one has to show proof of income. We serve seniors, the homeless, the unemployed and the under-employed.”

People who eat at the cafe hear a presentation from a city or other government official on topics such as social services, home-heating safety, Metra ridership discounts and mental-health resources.

Jaquenette Kabir, food pantry coordinator at New Life Covenant Church, (far left) with volunteers Bertha Coleman and Doris Jointer, checks out the food displayed at the New Life Covenant Church before clients arrive.

For people who prefer home cooking, the food pantry at the New Life Covenant Church Southeast in Greater Grand Crossing offers a grocery store-like shopping experience for free.

The pantry’s coordinator, Jackie Kabir, started volunteering there four years ago after she was laid off from her job as a technology consultant.

Kabir, who was raising her three daughters alone, had no experience with food pantries and was embarrassed to even go to one. She went to the pantry’s food giveaway, but arrived just as the volunteers had donated the last items and were packing up.

“I remembered the head of the pantry [at the time] hugging me as I returned to my car,” Kabir said.

When Kabir came back to the pantry the next day to shop, she said, “I walked in the door with tears in my eyes.

Volunteer Madeline Gantt, gives a big hug to Belincia Madison, as she arrives at the food pantry in New Life Covenant Church.

“The one thing I remember most was the impression that the volunteers made. They hugged me and told me it wasn’t always going to be like this … that this was just a temporary situation.”

Toya Hallmon, food pantry volunteer at New Life Covenant Church, carries hamburger buns to the table as clients arrive.

“They were so loving and so sensitive,” Kabir said. “They never made me feel bad or look bad, even though I was embarrassed to be there. I completed my registration. I walked through and shopped.”

The pantry serves families once a month, from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursdays.

The former pantry leader chose Kabir as her successor after she said God led her to the decision. Now Kabir works to keep the loving atmosphere alive.

That’s why it’s become known as “the hugging pantry” — thanks to volunteers, led by Madeline “Mama” Gantt.

“[Gantt, 87,] is the first person people meet when they walk through the door,” Kabir said. “She’s the one who stops everyone and gives them a word of encouragement and the best hug they’ll ever get in their life.”

The pantry is laid out like a grocery store so people can choose foods they prefer — an experience that Kabir found empowering.

“It’s very important to have freedom of choice when you’re in that broken state where you feel you have no control over your life anymore,” Kabir said.

The pantry lets friends or relatives act as designated shoppers for those who are house-bound.

Megan Bennett (left) of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, presents flowers to Arnita Hill, pantry visitor, as she leaves the pantry at New Life Covenant Church.

Kabir said she’d like to get enough monetary donations to add a delivery food service for people who are house-bound and a hot breakfast program for neighborhood children.

The pantry is a ministry of the New Life Covenant Church at 78^th and Dobson, which, with 30,000 members, is expanding. The church is building a bigger house of worship around the corner at 76^th Street and Greenwood Avenue.

The cafe and the food pantry are among 350 such sites throughout Cook County that receive donations from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The cafe and food-pantry leaders prefer monetary donations because the Greater Chicago Food Depository stores food, ensures it’s safe to eat and distributes it.

In October, the food depository distributed almost 7.5 million pounds of food — a 25 percent jump from October five years ago — with 75 percent of the food going to food pantries, said spokesman Greg Trotter. The rest went to shelters, mobile sites, soup kitchens and other programs. In November, the food depository will distribute about 500,000 pounds of holiday food, including hams, turkeys, chickens and fresh potatoes.

Sandra Guy is a local freelance writer.