SEATTLE (UMNS) - Walk into Boomtown Cafi, in the heart of downtown Seattle, and you're greeted with decorative sconces on brightly painted walls, the hum of conversation as the lunch crowd packs in, and the aroma of three generously portioned daily specials.
You probably wouldn't notice that this is a non-profit restaurant, set up to feed those who are homeless or low income. Not noticing is the point.
"Rather than going into a soup kitchen, the folks can come into a cafi and be served because that's a treat and everybody deserves that," says Kara Martin, Boomtown Cafi development associate.
Boomtown Cafi began serving meals in 1999. Today, the ecumenical restaurant serves 500 meals - breakfast and lunch - each weekday, dishing out dignity as well as nutritious, hot food.
"Places like the (rescue) mission and everything else, you know, they're good, but still again, it's not really giving us hope like this place is," says customer Delvikeo LeCour. "This place is giving us a lot of hope because it's making us feel wanted in society."
Unlike most feeding programs, the cafi offers menu choices. People can sit at tables and booths with their friends, eat from nice plates and enjoy the comfort of a real restaurant.
"It's not like you're waiting in a long line, you get a slop of food on your plate and then you go," says Lisa Anthony of Kennydale United Methodist Church.
Anthony and others from her church are among those who attend monthly fund-raising dinners at the cafi. She says the healthy and wholesome meal choices at the cafi are especially important to the chronic homeless who have a high rate of diabetes and other health problems related to poor nutrition.
The food is inexpensive but not free. Breakfast costs $1.25, and lunch is $1.75.
Customers can pay with cash or food stamps, or they can earn credit by working in the restaurant. They can wash dishes, bus tables, deliver food and even entertain other customers with the old piano in the corner to earn meal credits. Each 15 minutes worked equals one meal.
"People don't want just a handout," Martin says. "The food is served, and if they have a complaint, they have a right to say, 'My food is cold,' or 'I asked for this and you gave me this instead.' You can't do that in a soup kitchen."
"The staff here don't look at us bad, they look at us like we're somebody, which we all are," says customer Saleem Abbddulah, who works at the restaurant.
Kristin Ellison-Oslin, a deacon at Seattle's First United Methodist Church, says her congregation supports the cafi with a special fund, by attending fund-raising dinners and by contracting with the cafi for catered meals.
Boomtown's customers hunger for more than just food, she says. "They're hungry for grace, acceptance, appropriate treatment - you know, the treatment that you would expect."
# # #
************************************* United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
-- *************************************************** Clare Pascoe Henderson http://www.clergyabuseaustralia.org Clergy Sexual Abuse in Australia Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************
------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
