Will Meal Center Fly Where Hunger, Poverty Abound?

“Will it fly?”
Do you suppose the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, asked that of each other as they viewed a contraption that was anything but aerodynamic? On the contrary, did they possess such faith in their “flying machine” that they dared not allow a question to cross their minds?
According to a Web site about the brothers — www.wright-house.com/wright-brothers — “In 1878, when Orville and Wilbur were ages 7 and 11, their father brought them a toy ‘helicopter.’ It was based on an invention by French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Penaud. Made of cork, bamboo, and paper, with a rubber band to twirl its twin blades, it was a little bigger than an adult’s hand.
They later said this sparked their interest in flight. During the next few years, Wilbur and Orville tried to build these themselves, but the bigger they made them the less well they flew. Somewhat discouraged, the brothers turned to kites.”
In 1892, the Wrights opened a bicycle shop. But their love of flying wasn’t really there. About that time, French aviation researcher Octave Chanute collected data and brought together young aviators to experiment with gliders on the sand dunes at the Lake Michigan shore. The Wright brothers interest in flight was renewed.
Then, in 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N.C. the first airplane flight took place. The rest is history.
What does a bit of aeronautical history have to do with Cape May County? A lot, especially when it comes to The Free Meal Center. That new endeavor intends to provide free lunches to anyone who walks through its doors, Monday through Saturday, in May at the former Country House Restaurant on Route 9 in Burleigh.
Deserted for the last few years, the center, detailed elsewhere in a story in today’s edition, could be the start of something needed by a growing population in Cape May County: Those who cannot afford to eat.
The concept of feeding the hungry is not new, here or elsewhere, but Douglas Jewell and his wife, Joyce, Realtors who have seen the insides of some poverty-stricken homes and the families who reside in them, decided it was time to do what they could in this corner of the world.
Soon, they enlisted Nicholas Nastasi, Burgess Hamer, and Kathleen Matthews to join the board.
Like the Wright brothers, The Free Meal Center isn’t much to behold now, but it has loads of potential. It boasts four dining rooms and as many bathrooms. There is a kitchen in need of much commercial equipment with a leaky roof over it, but there is a burning desire to make repairs and get this to work for local hungry folks aided by volunteers and donations of food and money.
The board is securing federal tax-free status to enable receipts for food to be issued as tax deductions for donors.
Why a place for free lunches, and breakfasts on Saturday mornings year round? Because there is a need, said Jewell. After visiting with Sister Jane’s meal center in Atlantic City, they learned that of her 800 daily lunches, about 5 percent are eaten by Cape May County residents.
Jewell researched population figures. He found, according to the Census Bureau, of 42,000 county households, some 4,000 with four persons, exist under the poverty level of $22,050 annually. There are an additional 9,600 households here existing only on Social Security income.
A good meal is just a wish for many fellow residents.
If that is not sufficient to chill one’s spirit, I don’t know what it would take to prove the real need of what this group is doing.
The secular center intends to feed anyone regardless of income, no questions asked. If anyone walks through the door, they can dine, buffet style, and walk out.
There will be no need to profess any religious creed or listen to a sermon. Grace, of course, will be optional for those who may want to thank the Lord for the provisions before them, but again, that will be totally left up to the diner.
The 2.2-acre site will be entirely tobacco free. There will be picnic tables outside for those who may want to enjoy the natural surroundings.
To make it “fly,” the group will need volunteers of all types. They want to ensure that everyone who enters the center will feel welcome. Surely, there are many people who would lend a hand to help those in need.
Thus, the potential question the Wright brothers may have asked, I pose again, “Will it fly?”
The need is evident. The core group is in place to make it happen.
This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the doors will be open for the public for inspection visits to view the center as it is.
They can offer help in many ways, and it is certain, because Cape May County residents are generous folks, they will likely step up to help those who are less fortunate.
Such a venture opens the door to many, young and old, including students of culinary arts at the county Technical High School who study to culinary skills. What better way to put their learning into motion and fulfill community involvement?
There will be two paid chefs to prepare meals, according to Jewell. That’s so there will be continuity in the kitchen, and the food won’t vary. The food will be good, wholesome and plentiful, and centrally located, according to Jewell.
Will it fly? Only readers will help answer that question.
This is one venture that seems to be a winner. Those who are hungry should not be in a county of oceanfront villas and marinas filled with yachts. There should not be, but there are. Now, it’s time to do something about this awful dilemma.