A Path to Hope
story by Kellie Lafranchi
It’s 6 a.m. and everyone is up. Four women live here – Mary, Peggy, Patty and Kelly – and the conversation sounds just as it would in any happy family home.
Mary Miller, 52, fills the role of house mother, offering reminders of the time and of sticking to the schedule. The routine is the same every morning: coffee, chores, cigarettes, chatter. And within two hours, everyone must be gone.
Such is life at Adrienne’s House, a walk-in homeless shelter for women. Beds are deflated, the house is cleaned and the women take turns bathing in a single small sink. Then they pack their belongings in plastic tubs, which wait for the women to return that night.
At 8 a.m., the women must go somewhere – to school, to part-time jobs or to somewhere else to simply while away the hours. But most venture next door to the New Life Church kitchen, where they participate in the A Simple Path program, a reverse soup kitchen. The program, established by Kim Jagoe, teaches culinary skills, nutrition and sanitation to homeless women so they can prepare and serve meals and possibly land jobs in the food industry.
The public is invited for Friday lunch, and the diners’ donations support A Simple Path and Adrienne’s House. The organic menu is entirely homemade, with ingredients that are either donated or grown in the shelter’s garden. The focus is on healthy eating and teaching the women new skills. The dishes are sophisticated: hummus with sea salt pita chips, sweet potato soup with a dollop of Greek yogurt topped with pumpkin seeds, tabouli salad with roasted organic pumpkin, Mary’s famed homemade rosemary bread toasted with smoked Gouda, apple and avocado, and vanilla bean olive oil shortbread cake with a chocolate drizzle.
Mary came to the shelter after a life of addiction and after suffering a breakdown. Every Wednesday and Friday, she loads a trolley with ingredients and heads to the kitchen to make her bread. She has become a kitchen leader and dreams of selling her popular bread to the public.
She credits A Simple Path and Adrienne’s House with saving her life.
“I think will always love cooking,” Mary says. “When I had my breakdown, I couldn’t remember anything. But because of this program and this house . . . I survived.”
Mary washes in a small sink at the Adrienne's House women's shelter. This is how the women bathe every day. They hope to eventually add a shower to the facility.
The women prepare an organic meal that is served to the public for Friday lunch. One of the key items on the menu is homemade rosemary bread – Mary, who is well known for the bread, takes the ingredients to the kitchen on a trolley.
Kim Jagoe (left) and Mary discuss adding herbs to a recipe.
Mary mixes the ingredients for her famous homemade bread. The A Simple Path program prides itself on using organic ingredients.
Kim Jagoe (center) runs the A Simple Path program, which aims to teach homeless women how to cook and help them land jobs in the food industry. Kim started the program in December 2012, after she realized there were few opportunities for women who live in shelters.
Mary sets up the kitchen for the Friday lunch that is served to the public.
The public is invited each Friday to enjoy a lunch prepared by participants in the A Simple Path program. The meal is free, but donations are accepted for the program and for the Adrienne's House shelter.
Mary (right) is head baker in the kitchen and many people come to taste her famous bread.
Mary takes the trolley back to the Adrienne's House shelter after a crowded Friday lunch.
Mary (right), who has taken on the role of house mother at the Adrienne's House homeless shelter, gives advice to fellow resident Kelly about chores.