Fall 2010 Issue 17 DDB Mission: Feed the hungry & provide services for the homeless of Harrisburg. Inside This Issue: • • • • • • • •
Hunger Garden Kitchen Face Lift Client Attacks Lunch Plus Report New Caseworker Wish List Advisory Board News Client Report
Downtown Daily Bread 310 N. Third Street Harrisburg PA 17101 www.downtowndailybread.org
Elaine Strokoff Executive Director 717-238-4717 Brenda Ervin Kitchen Manager 717-238-4718 Blondie Doleman Weekend Cook 717-238-4718 Christine Patrick Client Caseworker 717-238-4718 Linda McGuire DDB News Editor
From The Director
On Sept. 22 I attended a press conference at the State Capitol Hunger Garden. The Hunger Garden is a cooperative project established earlier this year to grow fresh produce for food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens, and to raise awareness on hunger issues outside the Capitol Building. Downtown Daily Bread played an active part in the project since its inception. After the press conference, the Under Secretary of Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, Kevin Concannon, along with Senator Brubaker, Rep. Susan C. Helm, and officials from the Food Bank, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Feeding America, and members of the Hunger Caucus, toured Downtown Daily Bread. Our guests also helped Brenda prepare lunch by peeling, slicing, and dicing assorted vegetables from the Garden to be used in a salad for that day’s lunch. It was fun watching dignitaries don aprons and seriously begin their prep work. During my DDB talk, I was asked how long I had been at Downtown Daily Bread. I had to do a quick calculation to verify that this June I began my 15th year. The time has gone by quickly. I told the delegation how DDB has evolved over those years. The dining room was not the modern, bright, welcoming place it is now. There was no substitute cook, no counselor, no mail delivery, no clothing, no showers, no haircuts, no employment counseling, no health checks, no legal advice, no veterans’ services, no homeless services, and no mental health referrals. All those pieces of our Lunch Plus program came from listening to our clients and trying to fill their needs. On an interesting note, a photographer for the event told me that in 1983, when Downtown Daily Bread opened, he took pictures of the facility for the Patriot News. He remembered the dining room and kitchen in the Boyd gym. I asked him to tell me more about those first days. His recollection was fuzzy but one thing he did remember, “I was so surprised to see that there were hungry people in Harrisburg. I had not realized that before and it was a real awakening for me.” I could say the same thing for me 15 years ago. We have all come a long way. Elaine
Introducing New Caseworker: Christine Patrick
“Hi, my name is Christine Patrick and I’m the new case manager at Downtown Daily Bread. I have worked with the homeless in Harrisburg for about 15 years. Before coming to DDB, I worked with homeless women at the Brethren Housing for many years. I started at DDB on May 10th and I enjoy my work very much. I have two children, a 31 year old son and a 28 year old daughter. I also have three beautiful grandbabies. In the months I have been at Downtown Daily Bread, I have met with many clients and human service providers, as well as the great DDB volunteers. Brenda Ervin has been a wonderful We welcome your resource because she has introduced me to everyone who walks into DDB. suggestions, comments, The DDB clients who I have come in contact with have been some very special people. Most of and feedback. them are very humble and thankful for our services. I have also met with some people from the “Tent City” and worked with them to plan for their future. I helped one young pregnant woman Quote: and her boyfriend find an apartment. I also worked with a young homeless man who lived in Tent City for 8 months while attending HACC. I am currently working with him to find a place “Act as if it were to live and to help him find a college counselor and mentor. impossible to fail. The I have learned during my short time at DDB that most of our clients just want someone to listen best is yet to come.” A to them. I am happy to hear them and their stories and to earn their trust. Downtown Daily Bread thought we share with offers a vital service to them and I feel blessed to be a part of this program. I think Anne Frank clients and volunteers summarized the way I feel about our clients when she said, “In spite of everything, I still believe alike. that people are good at heart.” I want to thank Elaine Strokoff for offering me this opportunity to join the DDB staff and to become a part of this wonderful family at Downtown Daily Bread.”