Christ Kitchen celebrates 10 years

On a sunny September morning approximately 30 women sat around tables and listened as Jan Bowes Martinez led a Bible study. With blond curls springing around her face, Martinez asked the women, “How would you live if you knew it was your last day on Earth?”

“I’d spend all day with my son,” said one woman, and the others around her table nodded in agreement.

It was a typical Thursday at Christ Kitchen on North Monroe. Surrounded by gift baskets tied with shiny bows, and rows and rows of blue bins filled with packaged soup mixes and supplies, the women gathered for Bible study and for work.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Christ Kitchen. From humble beginnings in a church fellowship hall, the organization now boasts its own sparkling facility in a former Taco Time restaurant.

The ministry began when Martinez was working as a therapist at Christ Clinic. She treated women who seemed stuck in a cycle of poverty and addiction. But what really stood out to her was the palatable isolation the women endured.

“They didn’t have places to connect,” Martinez said. “They had so much chaos in their lives.”

She asked her patients if they’d like do a Bible study with other women.

“They all said yes,” Martinez recalled, “And not one came!”

Realizing that money is a great motivator she decided to combine the Bible study with work and pay the women to attend.

Martinez put together a dried bean soup mix and paid the women minimum wage to package the mix and to attend the Bible study. At the end of the morning she cooked up a batch of soup for lunch. That simple idea spawned a bustling nonprofit business.

Now in their second year at the current location, Christ Kitchen offers a full line of gift baskets, soup, bread and beverage mixes for sale.

“Eighty percent of our income goes back to salary for the workers and 100 percent of the proceeds come back to the Kitchen,” Martinez said.

Even man’s best friend hasn’t been forgotten. One of their newest products is dog biscuits – and those doggie delights have a swanky destination.

“The management staff of the Davenport Hotel came to lunch and saw the dog bones,” Martinez said. The treats are now available in the hotel’s pet friendly rooms. While human guests get candy on their pillows, Fido gets a Christ Kitchen dog bone on his.

Each Thursday after Bible study the women get to work. In the kitchen, under the watchful eye of the kitchen manager, an assembly line prepared a batch of Joyous Gingersnap Mix.

In the main room the women laughed and chatted while they worked. Christine Smith carefully tied bows on packages. Her silver hair framed her bright blue eyes.

“I’ve been here eight years,” Smith said. “And I’ve been tying bows the whole time.”

Smith had come to Christ Kitchen after her husband lost his job.

“I’d been having a hard time – I was really depressed.” Now, her warm smile is one of the first things visitors see when they walk through the room.

In addition to poverty, many of the women have struggled with addiction. Katherine Hert understands that battle. From a table where she affixed pieces of raffia to packaged mixes, she said she’d been in recovery for six years.

“I survived homelessness, and I lost a son 13 years ago,” Hert said. Her recovery from drug and alcohol addiction released her creativity.

“I wrote 550 poems in the last four years,” she said. “I go out into the community and read my poems and let people know they’re not alone – God loves them.” She paused and glanced at the women working next to her.

“I like coming here because they gave me a new life. No one else would give me the opportunity to work.”

Office manager Kari Kelli can relate. She said she heard about Christ Kitchen several years ago “at a homeless place I frequented downtown.” Life had not been kind to Kelli. “I was hopelessly addicted to meth. I’d lost my kids, my car and my job.” And then she met Martinez at the kitchen. She recalled her initial impression.

“The first thing I thought when I met Jan was – whatever she has in her eyes I want in mine.” She gathered up a stack of folders and beamed. “And now I do.”

Dozens of volunteers assist Martinez in mentoring the women and in keeping the business running smoothly. For instance, a team provides lunch each Thursday for the workers.

“It’s the most important part of the day,” Martinez said. “For many of them it may be their only hot meal.”

Other volunteers are busy planning Christ Kitchen’s 10th anniversary celebration on Oct. 27. Martinez said the theme of the fundraiser will be “Celebrate the God who makes small things grow.” The gala will be held at the Lincoln Center.

Indeed, her simple idea of connecting low-income women through a Bible study and teaching them job skills has blossomed in ways Martinez never dreamed.

But one thing surprised her even more than the success of Christ Kitchen:

“I didn’t know how blessed I’d be over and over again,” she said. “They give back to me – I couldn’t have guessed that.”