story and photos by Kim Souza
ksouza@thecitywire.com
There is a free lunch. The Samaritan Café operations in Rogers and Springdale serve up 10,000 free lunches each year as a mission made possible by the Samaritan Community Center, a dozen local restaurants and an army of volunteers and corporate gifts.
Cesar Cenovia, chef for the Rogers location, hit the ground running at 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning (Dec. 18) to prepare the annual Christmas luncheon. Food was donated by Nestle. It’s the third year the local Wal-Mart team at Nestle have provided the full meal and staff to serve the 400 guests who were expected to eat at the Rogers Café on Thursday.
“Today’s meal was easy for me to pull together because Nestle provided all the food ingredients — ham, potatoes, green beans, rolls, cookies and ice cream. That’s not usually the case. That just happens on the very special days,” Cenovia said.
Most of the time he takes the food harvested from 10 Northwest Arkansas-area restaurants referred to as "Harvest Partners." The partners include: Rogers-Outback Steak House, Longhorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Mimi's Cafe, Red Lobster; Fayetteville - Noodles Italian Kitchen, Atlanta Bread Company; Bentonville-Panera Bread and Old Tyme Donuts, and Daylight Donuts in Lowell.
Cenovia said Sam’s Club in Bentonville donates 50 large cans of vegetables each week. His job as chef is to take the food that comes into the mission each week and create a balanced hot meal four days a week — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
On any given week the Rogers and Springdale locations will serve up to 300 on a busy day. Cenovia said he never knows how many to expect, but there’s always enough food to go around.
“Sometimes I have no idea what food I will have for the next day, but there is always enough. We stretch it as far as we can and I always have enough canned vegetables for a soup or casserole. Tyson Foods also provides a lot of chicken,” Cenovia said.
Cenovia spent seven years as chef at Abuelos before working at the Samaritan Café where he also teaches Bible classes to Spanish speaking residents in the local community.
Mary Mann, communication director for the Samaritan Community Center, said the mission of the Samaritan Cafe’ is serve all who come to eat regardless of their circumstance. There are no requirements.
Mann said the food donations from its partners and the magic worked by their chefs to recreate meals from the various food items bring the cost of each meal down to just 25 cents.
A summer community garden managed by the mission produced an average of 600 pounds of produce per week which also went a long way in feeding more area residents in the Cafe’ and the adjacent food pantry.
“The cafe’ is set up like a restaurant. It’s not a soup line like you would see in a typical mission. We use some 300 volunteers a month, many of those work in the cafe serving the guests their hot lunch with their choice of drink. We also provide seconds for anyone who wants more to eat. The only requirement is that no food can be taken out of the cafe’,” Mann said.
Cenovia’s kitchen operates under the supervision of the state health department. His wife Lupe is also his right hand helper in the kitchen.
Mann said Samaritan Café is always looking for new harvest partnerships because the need in throughout the community continue to grow despite the improving economy.
“Most restaurant operators aren’t aware that the Samaritan Café takes food from other establishments with no liability on the part of the giver. We have our own insurance policy that protects against any risk of food borne illness. The food we serve is re-prepared according to state guidelines, it’s not just reheated and served,” Mann said.
Sue Woods, 81 of Rogers said she has volunteered for two years at the Samaritan Café.
“I have lived here all my life and I had no idea there was this kind of need in Benton County, Arkansas. I feel honored to be able to come and serve these people each week,” Woods said as she offered tea and coffee to the visitors eating lunch in Rogers on Thursday.
Tammy Easter of Gateway was eating lunch with her family at the Rogers Café on Thursday. Easter said she too, volunteers at the Samaritan Community Center each week stuffing snack packs for kids.
Patrick Boehm of Decatur was eating lunch with his 2-year-old grandson Isaiah. Boehm said Thursday was his first visit to the Samaritan Café as he was told about the mission by a cousin. He said the grandson and his two siblings with parents recently moved into his home and money is tight. He expected they would be back to the Café and was glad to hear about the mission.
Visitors at the holiday lunch were also were allowed to chose from a large selection of children’s books and stuffed animals for gifts they may need for family children this year.