More than a soup kitchen

January 8, 2020

“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” -Isaiah 25:4

There is so much more! “More than a soup kitchen” isn’t just the slogan for Cafe Central, it’s a truth that unless you’ve experienced it, might not be evident. When I think of a soup kitchen I picture a line of people, plate in hand, waiting to have someone give them a spoonful of food. Ann’s vision for Cafe Central was quite different. She wanted folks to come in, be greeted with a friendly “hello”, sit down at a table and be served. That is exactly what they do!

Along with having someone serve them a homemade hot meal, our patrons come in for many other reasons. They come because it’s a safe place, a welcoming place. In the summer it’s cool and in the winter it’s warm. Some come during their lunch hour and others stay until we are cleaned up and closed at 2:30. Some are “nosy”, “it’s what I do on Tuesday”, others, “just to chew the fat”. Some come in hopes of non-perishable items from our food pantry or even just a loaf of bread to help them make it through the week.

EVERYONE comes for fellowship! As I asked people, both patron and volunteers alike, what brings them to Cafe Central, the answer is fellowship. People need people! We were created by God to need each other. To be community; to be family. We need people to listen, pray, laugh, cry, hope and dream with us. We need to know that whenever we are “distressed,” whatever “storm” is in our path, that there is a place we can go to find “refuge”. 

Cafe Central is more than a soup kitchen, it’s a “shelter from the storm”. 

Until we “read” again …God Bless!

You can go to our “GIVE” link anytime: https://cafecentralmilledgeville.org/give/

Stephannie Shelton

Stephannie and her husband Doug have been volunteering at Cafe Central for 6 years. They moved from Colorado to Milledgeville Georgia in 2015. That year during Sunday service, the announcement that Cafe Central needed extra help for their Thanksgiving service, brought them for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. They have now served weekly since January 2016. Doug is the volunteer coordinator and member of the Cafe Central Board. Stephannie just likes to talk to, and about, the “family” Cafe Central has become.