The Grace’s Kitchen volunteers offer personal touches (above) when delivering meals to hungry people. The group serves free breakfast every Thursday in Birmingham’s Linn Park.

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Feeding Hungry Souls

Posted August 25, 2011

“YOU NEED TO FEED PEOPLE.”

Louder than a thought and more personal than a conversation, the words rang in Paula Hughes’ mind with such clarity. “I knew it was God giving me direction,” she says. She was preparing to serve in a Louisville, Ken., soup kitchen as part of a mission trip with the Hoover, Ala.-based Hunter Street Baptist Church, but the message she received was not simply to serve the needy, but to feed hungry people.

At the same time, in the same soup kitchen, just feet away from Paula, fellow choir member Lisa Latham heard a similar voice when she walked into the space: “This is what you need to do: feed people.”

When the two women realized that they had heard the same message, “we began to pray for God’s direction and felt led to create Grace’s Kitchen,” says Paula. “Today, the ministry’s mission is to glorify God by providing fresh and healthy food to people in need.”

You’ve probably figured out that Grace is not a person. “We want to extend the grace that God has given to us to others, many of whom are viewed as undeserving,” says Lisa.

Both women know that this feeding ministry is supposed to be different than a soup kitchen. Meals are to be homemade and of high quality—just like those they prepare for their own families. Early on, they felt that a component of the ministry was a pay-as-you-can restaurant, where people of all socioeconomic backgrounds would dine together. But this is obviously a long-term goal and the women prayed for short-term vision as well. “God led us to begin serving a hot breakfast in downtown Birmingham's Linn Park to people who are primarily homeless,” says Paula. These meals include made-from-scratch items such as banana-nut muffins, sausage-and-cheese muffins, pancakes with bacon, and fresh fruit.

Each step Paula and Lisa took was planted in faith. Though they never asked for money, every dime spent was repaid through donations to Grace’s Kitchen. While they still see a pay-as-you-can restaurant as part of their calling, they have found numerous opportunities to serve. Churches and mission groups expressed a need for food, and Grace’s Kitchen volunteers have answered those calls. 

One of the biggest needs arose in April after tornadoes tore through Alabama, devastating communities in their wake. Thousands of people were left homeless, and volunteers poured into the state to help rebuild lives. Meals were an obvious need, and Paula and Lisa felt called to bring food to tornado victims and volunteers in some of the hardest hit areas in Alabama: Pleasant Grove, Cordova, Pratt City, Hackleburg, and Shoal Creek.

In the first few days, the need was overwhelming at the church where Grace’s Kitchen was serving in Pleasant Grove. Sometimes 800 or more people would come to eat. As the need there dwindled, “we began to pray for God to show us where we were to serve next,” Lisa says. One morning she learned of a need at a church in Cordova through Facebook. “We reheated the leftovers we had from Pleasant Grove the night before and drove them to Walker County.” Since then, they have served more than a dozen meals there.

In the two years since Grace’s Kitchen was founded, thousands of breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners have been handed out to those in need. Paula and Lisa don't keep track of the number. “We just focus on using food as a vehicle to build relationships with those we serve and continue to follow wherever God leads us,” says Paula. 

For information on Grace’s Kitchen and how you can help, visit their website GracesKitchen.org.

Lisa’s husband, Jason, is a Morgan Keegan employee and also serves as treasurer of GRACE'S KITCHEN.

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