Cooking With Heart

If food can feed the soul, then it makes sense that the cooking would come from the heart.
There is plenty of that resonating from the St. Vincent de Paul Center soup kitchen at the St. Mary Magdalen Christian Service Center in Abbeville.
“You have to have the heart for this kind of job,” Mary Harris said.
Harris, an Abbeville native, is the head cook at the center, which is located at 701 Chevis St. in Abbeville and helps feed many in need in Vermilion Parish. She has been involved with the Christian Service Center, through its various locations and directors, for much of her life. Harris has served in her current role as cook for more than five years.
“I was working at the front desk in the service center,” Harris said. “Then I transferred to the kitchen because I love to cook.”
Again, it is more than a job for Harris.
“Your heart has to be in it,” Harris said. “You can’t be in it just to get a paycheck.
“My thing is that if I can help just one person, I feel like I am doing what God has called me to do.”
Harris and those who make the kitchen go are helping plenty of people in Vermilion Parish.
“We served 57,000 hot meals out of this kitchen from January to June,” Harris said. “We still have the rest of the year and every day we are seeing new people.”
Harris may only see 25 to 30 people come in a day, but the food is feeding so many more.
“We serve by the family,” Harris explained. “You may see 30 people, but that number is going to multiple to around 150 because of the size of some families.”
Deacon Randy Hyde, who runs the center, said that those families who do go to the kitchen, just as is the case with the service center, which has given away nearly 500,000 pounds of food this year, are verified to be in need.
“I have visited 87 percent of the homes,” Hyde said.
Those served at the kitchen must bring containers. The containers must be clean to meet health code standards.
With a heart so big, Harris has tried to find at times, while keeping to the health standards, ways to help those who may not have had a clean container or not had one at all.
“I try to find something, some way,” Harris said. “It hurts me to turn people away. That may be the only meal they have that day.”
What those meals consist of depends solely on what Harris has available.
“We cook what is donated,” Harris said. “We are in need of donations right now. I am making a plea to whoever can donate to please donate.
“There is a great need here.”
At the top of the need list is meat.
“We need any meat,” Harris said. “We cook beef, chicken, pork, deer; it doesn’t matter. Dried beans are always needed.
“We need meat.”
Completely running out of options is Harris’ greatest fear.
“We don’t want to say we don’t have,” Harris said. “That would hurt a lot of people, not just the people we serve, but all of us to say we don’t have anything to give.”
Thankfully, that is not the case.
“We have been able to stretch things out,” Harris said. “At times when we have plenty of meat, we will give more. Other times we have to make meals that stretch out the meat, so that everyone can have some. When you run low, you have to do what you can do for everyone to eat.
“I don’t want to ever have to say we don’t have anything here.”
Harris may be a rock, but she is not an island. She said she has a great crew that helps her each day. Kenneth Brent Moore, Anthony Borden, Christine Hopkins, Crystal Williams and Mary Ann Broussard back Harris up four days a week. Harris added that Kay Wilson has also stepped in to help many times.
“They help make this go,” Harris said. “They are the backbone. Without them, this place could not run as smoothly as it does. They put me in front, but I thank God for sending me such good people.
“I tell them day by day, how much I appreciate them.”
Those are Hyde’s exact sentiments about all of those in the kitchen.
“They are incredible,” Hyde said. “They show up every day and pray before they get started. They know what they are doing is for Jesus Christ. They have been there and know what the people we serve are going through.
“It is really a blessing to have them back there.”
Harris said she certainly feels blessed, especially when she hears from those she helps.
“One lady sent me a letter,” Harris said. “In the letter she told me that she thanks God that he put us in this kitchen as angels to help.
“The letter just made me cry.”
Harris does not try to hide her emotions when talking about what her work and the kitchen represents.
“People realize this place is here to help them,” Harris said. “They don’t have to go hungry. They don’t have to do without. I am not saying this just because I work here, but this is a positive place, and great things are being done here.
“I am not here just to be here. My heart is in this.”