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Youngstown's newest dining hall for people in need opens
YOUNGSTOWN
Food for the mind, body and spirit – now available at Our Community Kitchen.
The city’s newest dining hall for people in need opened its doors at 551 Mahoning Ave. on Tuesday, serving breakfast and lunch and then hosting an open house for people who supported the project that adds another free-meal site in an area with great need for one.
“Youngstown is one of the hardest-hit poverty areas in the country. A lot of those people are either homeless, or very low-income,” said kitchen manager Ralph “Skip” Barone, who previously had the same position at the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Front Street kitchen.
“Today we saw a lot of families come in who were grateful, with tears in their eyes, that we’re here,” Barone said.
In addition to serving twice-daily meals six days a week, Our Community Kitchen will offer services such as educational programs, free toiletries and haircuts, and the use of computers at the site.
“We’re certainly not going to be all things to all people, but we’re going to try to meet their needs,” said Barone, a 15-year veteran of feeding the less fortunate. “We’re trying to get them on their own two feet. That’s why I always say, ‘We’re feeding them physically, mentally and spiritually.’”
Barone left St. Vincent de Paul late last year, prompting that kitchen to shut down for a week after volunteers departed with him. In stepped the Anthony Cocca Family Foundation, which offered a $750,000 donation to open a new dining hall under Barone’s management.
St. Vincent DePaul’s kitchen continues operations on Front Street.
Anthony Cocca, president and CEO of Boardman-based Cocca Development Ltd., expressed excitement about the kitchen’s opening.
“Being an Italian family, everything we do, we eat,” he said. “That’s what this meant to us – friends feeding friends.”
His family’s foundation has pledged to provide financial support for the kitchen for as long as it’s needed.
Cocca said he expects the site eventually to serve about 100 people each day for breakfast and between 200 and 250 each day for lunch.
Those numbers weren’t too far off from what the kitchen saw its first day, when 130 people came in to eat lunch. The dining hall also handed out 84 take-out meals and served a few dozen people for breakfast.
“It’s been amazing,” said Barone. “It will build. I think it’s very good for the first day.”
The kitchen serves breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
For information about Our Community Kitchen, or to inquire about donating or volunteering, contact Barone at 330-770-2224.