Central City Cafe
Durham Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church
Rev. Richard G. Stewart, Pastor
174 E. Eagle St.
Buffalo, N.Y. 14204
(716) 856-4943

Rev. Richard Stewart, a Buffalo native who's devoted his life in the ministry to feeding hungry people wherever he's been, in Buffalo and Houston and Detroit and North Carolina, and who saw an effort to buy cereal for one hungry child in Houston evolve into an effort by many churches to provide breakfast for some 5,000 children there, was in the right place to make a difference again seven years ago this autumn in Buffalo.

When an old, mainline Methodist congregation that year saw its flock gradually dwindle to below 100 and regretfully closed its inner-city church, Stewart banded together with a group of Methodist congregations to open the Central City Cafe, and they've been feeding hungry folks, from homeless people to working poor, five days a week ever since, dishing up hearty fare like rice and beans, salad and bread in the bright half-basement of the little red-brick Durham Memorial Church.

Some of the diners have been coming back regularly since the cafe opened its doors on Nov. 19, 1990, Stewart said; but others have turned their lives around, and at least part of the credit for many of those victories must go to the pastor and the cafe. They don't just serve food here, of course, but a generous helping of information and services, ranging from weekly visits by Legal Aid, the Veterans Administration and other agencies to the kind of ad hoc counseling and out-of-pocket aid that a pastor can provide. Seeking to instill pride and a sense of ownership, he'll often take salt or sugar off the tables, encouraging participants to find the resources to donate such basics as a way of "paying back," or urging an individual seeking financial help to spend a little time cleaning up around the kitchen first.

Teaming with other churches -- many of them Methodist congregations from the suburbs but also Lutherans and others -- Stewart keeps a careful calendar ensuring that there'll be volunteers to help in the kitchen every day. The kitchen gets some of its food from the local food bank, but much of the operation's support comes from small grants from the city and United Way and donations from other churches in more affluent parts of town. It's a team effort, an ecumenical effort, and it feeds some 40,000 hungry people a year, with as many as 250 or more trooping through the dining room on those hungry days toward the end of the month when food stamps and welfare checks run low.

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

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