Using the Asbury First Dining and Caring Center in Rochester, NY, this article discusses some of the important factors in running a caring, committed, functional nonprofit
At the Asbury First Dining and Caring Center in Rochester, New York, the individuals who arrive every day for breakfast or lunch may be considered, to many, to be some of the more unsavory people in the world. They may be unkempt, with old clothes and neglected beards. Some of former inmates. Many are drug addicts or alcoholics. Yet these people are called “guests” by those who run the organization. They are not made to stand in line holding plastic trays, waiting for a serving of industrial-type food to be plopped on their plate. No, they are invited to take a chair and are served their food restaurant-style. Often a volunteer will be playing the old battered piano that stands against one wall. The hum of washers and dryers in the next room, cleaning some guest’s few articles of clothing, can be heard. It is a place of peace and comfort, and laughter and chatting fill the air.
What makes this unusual soup-kitchen-plus so successful? How has the Dining and Caring Center managed, for more than a decade, to provide roughly 24,000 meals a year to indigents and others in need of a meal? Let’s look at some of the reasons.
The Dining and Caring Center (or DCC) began as a church-sponsored ministry, founded by volunteers at Asbury First United Methodist Church. The first key to understanding the DCC’s success lies there: in having a large pool of dedicated, available workers to staff the center. Asbury First has nearly 2,000 members, and has, since its beginning in the 1800s, valued outreach. It was easy for DCC founders to find individuals willing to come in once a week or even once a month to cook a meal. Today, nearly 200 volunteers staff the Center, making the burden light for each one.
Another factor in the group’s success was the establishment of an advisory board, with membership both from the church congregation and beyond. This board guides the focus of the DCC, approves all new initiatives, and has most recently been responsible for hiring a freelance development professional who is giving new insights into the successful management of a non-profit in the 21st century. With her help, the board and the DCC director (the only paid employee) are creating a website and researching possible grant funding. The moral? Find good people, and bring them on board. There are many who will help–they just have to be asked.
Another factor in the DCC success: play well with others. As an urban organization, the DCC draws its guests from across the downtown Rochester area. It has links with other soup kitchens and like-minded organizations across the city, coordinating its offerings so that there is an efficient use of resources. If we offer breakfast on Monday, then the soup kitchen a mile away at Blessed Sacrament Church doesn’t have to–they can focus on lunch. This collaborative mindset helps all of the organizations to better use their resources. It also allows for an informal grapevine of information on community partnerships and other benefits that might be shared.
In summary, what makes the Center work best is its philosophy of respect and open communication: with its clients, with the church community where it makes its home, with funders, with its neighbors in the city of Rochester, and with all those with whom it comes into contact.
For more information on the center, go to www.asburyfirst.org and click on “outreach.”
soup kitchen, nonprofit, urban, Methodist Church, volunteers, Dining and Caring Center, homeless, indigent,The Center for Association Resources