This story first appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of our “Peas & Carrots” newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here.

Cathedral Kitchen has served Second Helpings meals since 1999, and currently provides around 1,400 meals each week to neighbors experiencing homelessness.

For 25 years, Second Helpings has prepared meals for social service agencies across our community. Our partners serve a wide variety of people – some target their programs to kids, seniors, veterans, or neighbors experiencing homelessness, while other organizations serve the general public in their neighborhood, no questions asked.

While Second Helpings often connects with new organizations, there are many who we have worked together with for nearly all of our 25-year history. One such partner is Cathedral Kitchen, the feeding ministry of Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral (SSPPC). They have served unhoused neighbors in downtown Indianapolis since the Great Depression. This program serves more than 100 people a day, seven days a week, all with donated food, prepared and served by volunteers.

Dr. Margie Pike, who directed Cathedral Kitchen for 15 years, remembers when the kitchen first partnered with Second Helpings in 1999. “When I heard about Second Helpings it was like a godsend to realize I didn’t have to cook this huge amount of food every day, that I had an agency that was going to be faithful day in and day out. They really go out of their way to constantly support us, so our success is based on the goodness of Second Helpings.”

Thanks to our community’s continued support, Second Helpings can provide 1,400 meals to Cathedral Kitchen every week – and has delivered more than 550,000 meals to them since we started working together 24 years ago.

“We couldn’t do any of it without the support of Second Helpings,” said Deacon Steve Hodges, the Pastoral Associate at SSPPC. “All this food is prepared with love.”

“Our guests are living on the fringes. Sometimes they have nowhere else to turn to, and so at least we provide a safe place where they can eat a large meal every day and they can take some food with them to tide them over for the rest of the day.”

Food plays a powerful role in our day-to-day lives. Beyond providing nourishment, a delicious, filling meal brings joy and comfort, especially after a difficult day. Thank you for making it possible to fight hunger, and provide more than food to our community.