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OGDEN — Weber State University student Isaac Farley knows what it’s like to be homeless.
In fact, he was homeless more than once growing up. When he moved in with his grandparents in high school and converted to Christianity, he determined he would heed Jesus Christ’s words when he said in Matthew 25:40, “… inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’”
After working at the church soup kitchen for three years, Farley wondered if there was a way to help the people in the soup kitchen become more self-sufficient.
“That’s when I kind of stumbled upon this idea of taking food donations, which is what a soup kitchen runs on, and actually getting people on the other side of the counter involved in making and selling things,” Farley said.
The recently opened nonprofit organization, O-Town Kitchen, is a sustainable food and employment program that aims to employ homeless parents from the Your Community Connection (YCC) Family Crisis Center.
The kitchen accepts food donations that grocery stores, restaurants and food pantries can’t use and extends their expiration dates through canning processes, which were approved by the Utah Department of Food and Agriculture, Farley said.
According to the 2014 Utah Comprehensive Report on Homelessness, 46 percent of the homeless population are people in families.
Currently, O-Town Kitchen employs two homeless mothers part-time, but Farley said they hope to employ more people in the future and to make the program self-funding.
Farley said they will sell their products at the Ogden Farmers Market this summer and will use that money and the money donated to the kitchen to pay the employees.
The kitchen, which operates at the YCC, is a workforce development program where the employees learn skills such as food safety, package design, marketing and interpersonal and business skills that will help them obtain more stable jobs at restaurants. The kitchen is also sponsoring the employees to get their food handler's permit.
Julee Smith, executive director of the YCC, said she is excited for this opportunity for her clients to obtain hands-on work experience.
“I would think it’s going to give them some more self-confidence, self-esteem, and that’s so important to these people because of what they have been through,” Smith said.
Farley, the business coordinator, and his assistant, Nestor Robles, also a student in the entrepreneurship program at Weber State, launched O-Town Kitchen May 28, and their product sold out the first day.
O-Town Kitchen is open Monday to Wednesday from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. To make a donation to O-Town Kitchen, click here.
