For nearly 50 years, Cathedral Kitchen in Camden has nourished its community by providing meals, training, and hope for those it serves

The sparkling blue mosaic is the first thing you notice when visiting Cathedral Kitchen in Camden. In it, a dove spreads its wings in flight among a collection of utensils, an image symbolic of hope and food’s life-nourishing power to create change through community.

Started by volunteers in 1976, Cathedral Kitchen is a multi-faceted, nondenominational nonprofit dedicated to helping people overcome food insecurity by championing their pursuit of stability and prosperity. The kitchen achieves this through its free meal program, contract initiatives, culinary arts program, and catering service, to serve close to 3,000 meals a day.

The core of its mission is a meal program offered Monday–Saturday; anyone, no questions asked, can stop by for a free, scratch-made meal prepared by a team of chefs and culinary students. Guests experience restaurant-style service and can preview each week’s menu on Cathedral Kitchen’s social media. In addition to the food served, everyone leaves with a takeaway meal featuring a sandwich, fruit, and a granola bar, made possible by volunteers and donations.

“FOOD IS ABOUT COMFORT, CONNECTION, AND HONORING THE CULTURE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD.”

Community Empowerment Through Food

Cathedral Kitchen is unique in its approach to empowering people in the Camden community through food. Specifically, by creating systems that naturally connect people toward growth.

Senior Development Director Noreen Flewelling elaborates, “The meal service brings people through our doors, but we strive to meet guests’ other needs while they’re on site.” This includes developing a personal care service to meet hygiene needs and having a case manager in the building to help with benefits, housing, and mental health care.

The organization also has a truck that gathers excess food from nearby grocery stores, which is repurposed in a no-cost market stand on week-days in an effort to reduce food waste by offering groceries to community members in need.

Cathedral Kitchen is also home to a 15-week Culinary Arts Training Program for adults aged 18+ that recruits around 25 individuals per session. The program is entirely free, and students focus on different topics each week, including rotations in operations of the meal program and a catering division that helps bring additional income to support daily operations.

Students are trained to pass ServSafe, an important food safety certification required to work in the industry.

“Since the culinary program started in 2009, 600 students have graduated, with 86% securing jobs,” Flewelling says. “Many of our graduates go on to work in kitchens at Virtua, Cooper, Camp-bell’s Soup, and in small and large chain restaurants.”

The culinary program is a point of pride for Cathedral Kitchen, even attracting support via a grant from the Jacques Pépin Foundation, whose purpose is to champion accessibility to the culinary arts. Students receive aprons with Pépin’s famous quote, “We are all equal in the eyes of the stove,” and Cathedral Kitchen’s Executive Chef Naimah Rutling was invited to include her Texas-Style BBQ Black Bean Burger recipe for Pépin’s Video Recipe Book.

Building Foundations for Success

In 2024, graduate Tashe Mattison received the Gloria Pépin Memorial Grant to honor her strength in overcoming homelessness, her growth in the culinary program, and her rise as an assistant chef instructor and future entrepreneur.

Rollie Wesen, executive director of the Jacques Pépin Foundation, emphasizes the importance of culinary programs to uplift and provide members of a community with a path towards stability: “We’re proud to support Cathedral Kitchen’s impressive Culinary Arts Training program and provide the tools they need to empower those with barriers to employment.”

Graduates have gone on to start their own businesses, like the founders of Maria Station Café, a Latin American restaurant in Gloucester City. Co-founder and Executive Chef Anthony Aponte started as a volunteer at Cathedral Kitchen.

He found his calling when his mentor and friend, Chef Jonathan Jernigan, encouraged him to apply to the culinary program. “It taught me everything I needed to open, own, and operate my own restaurant. I also met my wife Johanna there, and together with our two daughters, we are on a journey of entrepreneurship to ensure the success of our business.” Since opening, the restaurant has hired two graduates, giving back to the community that empowered them.

“IN 2024, WE SERVED MORE THAN 351,000 FREE MEALS.”

Fundraising and Farm Initiatives

To help fuel the large-scale culinary operations at Cathedral Kitchen, they rely on farm initiatives, such as America’s Grow a Row in Pittstown and Carversville Farm Foundation in Bucks County, PA. Both donate their products to community kitchens and food banks.

Tony D’Orazio, co-executive director of Carversville Farm Foundation, highlights the importance of providing high-quality organic produce, meat, and eggs to Cathedral Kitchen to help them prepare delicious and healthy meals. “Our organizations’ missions are closely aligned, and in the end, people who are experiencing food insecurity receive the best meals available anywhere!”

During the summer, Carversville hosts Cathedral Kitchen staff and students for a field trip to its farm to experience how the food is grown before it makes it to the table.

A highlight of each year, Cathedral Kitchen gears up for its annual fundraiser in November, Harvest for Hunger, which takes place at Lucien’s in Berlin. It’s a special night for donors to connect with staff and incoming students of the next culinary class, who help prepare and serve the night’s repast.

In 2025, Cathedral Kitchen is celebrating its 50^th anniversary and hopes to ramp up community awareness of its services. “In 2024, we served more than 351,000 free meals,” Flewelling notes. “As inflation and housing shortages have affected our community, Cathedral Kitchen is the safety net for so many people.” To sustain these services, their website has a dedicated tab for volunteer opportunities, with monetary donations having the greatest impact.

While each day at Cathedral Kitchen is a creative coordination of multiple systems and people, at the end of it all it’s about cooking for others and providing support to meet their needs. We all need to eat, but a good meal touches the heart. “I’ll never forget seeing tears in a guest’s eyes after we served him stuffed peppers, his grandmother’s signature dish—that brought back so many memories for him,” Chef Rutling recalls. “For me, food is about comfort, connection, and honoring the culture of the neighborhood.” □

CATHEDRAL KITCHEN
1514 Federal St, Camden
cathedralkitchen.org

Daily Market Stand: Monday–Friday 2:45–5pm
Meal Service: Monday–Friday 3:15–5pm
Saturday noon–1pm

HARVEST FOR HUNGER

Cathedral Kitchen’s annual Harvest for Hunger event is its biggest fundraiser of the year. It takes place each November, and guests can attend for a fun evening of food, drinks, and bidding on prizes, all of which goes toward raising money for Cathedral Kitchen. Enjoy a food and wine tasting, plus both a live and silent auction.

WHEN: Thursday, November 6, from 6-9:30pm

WHERE: Lucien’s, 81 W White Horse Pike, Berlin

COST: Tickets are $125pp. Sponsorships are also available.

HOW TO ATTEND: Visit cathedralkitchen.org/harvest-for-hunger for tickets, sponsorships, and more information.

Please note that Harvest for Hunger is a 21+ event.