Steve has seen some hard times in his 37 years. Free at last from the grip of heroin and cocaine, he is battling to reclaim his life. Last winter, he was homeless.
Through all this, Steve always has counted on one thing: A hot meal every weeknight at Morristown’s Table of Hope.
That changed in late September. Steve showed up at Bethel A.M.E. Church for supper — and discovered the soup kitchen had closed.
“What am I gonna do tonight?'” he remembers asking himself in a “frenzy.”
Dozens of others in precarious circumstances have been asking that same question for two months, as the nonprofit seeks public help, again, to get back on its feet.
Since its founding in 2013 as a spinoff of the Spring Street Community Development Corp., Table of Hope has led a hand-to-mouth existence, with brief closures.
Generous donors came to the rescue over the summer, answering an urgent appeal with about $70,000 in contributions, according to Spring Street CDC/Table of Hope Executive Director Teresa Williams.
This time, an Act of God — evidently, a wrathful deity — has struck. Halfway through a three-day conference at Bethel in September, a sewer pump ruptured. Sewage “literally was bubbling up like a volcano,” recounted Clifford Christian, operations manager for Table of Hope.
Until the pump is replaced, the church basement cannot be used for nightly meals. The kitchen has no water. Toilets are shut off.
Williams said she is grappling with insurance people. Her husband, Bethel Pastor Sidney Williams Jr., has told his small congregation that repairs will cost more than $35,000.
Trustees say they hope the public steps up once again — with tax-deductible donations — and that area restaurants continue donating boxed meals in the interim.
“There is not a better time than around the holidays to be thankful for what we have, and we’re very thankful for that, for making a difference in people’s lives,” said Morris County Sheriff James Gannon, a Table of Hope trustee and volunteer.
Thanks to Portofino’s Restaurant, Table of Hope will hand out hot, boxed dinners on Thanksgiving. The hour-long distribution starts at noon on Bishop Nazery Way.
With help from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and the County College of Morris, Table of Hope gave away turkeys and canned foods last week at a drive-through in the college parking lot.
Through assorted partnerships, Table of Hope keeps a food delivery van on the road. It also hosts weekly food distributions in Morristown and Parsippany. People line up as early as 7:30 am for those 1 pm events, Christian said.
“We’re still operating,” Teresa Williams said. “But obviously, we can’t do the soup kitchen. It’s upsetting, and it’s very expensive.”
‘UTMOST RESPECT’
Steve, meanwhile, has found sustenance at the Market Street Mission and nourish.NJ. He is grateful. Yet he misses the variety of meals at Table of Hope — and the camaraderie.
“It’s a great environment and community. They treat you with the utmost respect. They make sure you have everything you need before you leave. They make sure that you’re good,” Steve said.
“They treat people how they want to be treated,” added Elijah, a 28-year-old graduate of Morristown High School.
He’s working part-time in a store, trying to scrape together money for an apartment. Table of Hope has helped him get by. “It’s a welcoming feeling. A lot of people want to come here,” Elijah said.
On some weeknights, Table of Hope served 60 to 100 dinners, depending who you ask. Steve said the cooking sometimes evoked fond memories of his mom’s; they are estranged now. Table of Hope also was a place to socialize, an antidote to loneliness and isolation, he said.
Operations Manager Clifford Christian estimates 80 percent of Table of Hope dinner guests were homeless. A new survey reports a 46 percent spike in Morris County’s unsheltered population since 2023, nearly twice the state average. But the working poor had been appearing with increasing frequency, Christian said.
Table of Hope volunteer Annette Harrington, a lifelong Morristown resident, has observed more families in need. Prices keep rising in one of America’s most affluent counties, in one of its most expensive states.
“They’re having a hard time juggling, paying rent. I know that for myself as well, trying to pay rent and keep food in the house. Especially when you have children, and keeping healthy foods,” said Harrington, Morristown High ’78.
Christian, 60, once worked as a hotel chef. He has cooked at Table of Hope.
“I like helping people. I like seeing the joy, the gratitude on their faces,” when they get a good meal, Christian said.
Despite the kitchen shutdown, Table of Hope finds something for hungry people who come knocking, he said. During this interview, two Hispanic men walked into the church to inquire about supper. Christian sent them home with apples and rice and stuffing mix.
A middle-aged woman from Newark visited recently on a Monday, Table of Hope’s popular fried chicken night. She sobbed when told the soup kitchen had closed, Christian said. He took her around the corner and bought her a meal.
Christian knows how it feels to need a helping hand. He overcame an addiction, only to relapse when given the painkiller OxyContin after a car accident.
“I’m from Newark. I remember waiting for Dunkin’ Donuts to close, because they throw stuff out in the dumpster. I had to be the first one there. I’ve been through it,” Christian, now clean for almost eight years, related.
He credits strong faith and caring rehab programs for his turnaround. To pay it forward, he became a peer recovery specialist. But he feels Table of Hope allows him to make a greater impact.
‘THEY MAKE THE DIFFERENCE’
Incorporated in 1843, Bethel Church is Morris County’s oldest African American house of worship. Willis Nazery, its first pastor, was a hero of the Underground Railroad. Its present pastor, the Rev. Sidney Williams Jr., is trying to raise funds to pay off the church mortgage, in addition to fixing the plumbing and saving the soup kitchen.
The pastor and his spouse insist they and their flock are blessed. Skeptics might suggest they are cursed.
Within months of the Williams family’s 2011 arrival from Capetown, South Africa, Tropical Storm Irene drove the Whippany River into Bethel’s basement hall, causing extensive damage. In 2022, family members were fortunate to escape a fire that gutted the parsonage.
Insurance issues plagued both disasters. The public rose to each occasion.
Conversion of the parsonage to a halfway house is imminent, Teresa Williams said. As for Table of Hope, she knows making desperate appeals every few months is not a sound business model. She is banking on new trustees from the corporate world to help craft a sustainability strategy.
Ideally, Williams said, this would include foundation grants for recruiting a full-time executive director and funding Table of Hope for a full year.
In the meantime, one doesn’t need to be a millionaire to help, Sheriff Gannon pitched. Many solid working class folks have dug deep in the past, he said. “And they truly make the difference, you know? They make the difference.”
Nearly everyone struggles at some point in life, the sheriff went on. Moms and dads coming to Table of Hope “just need a little help to get over the finish line,” he said.
Volunteers from his office dish out food, offer referrals to social services, and donate clothing, Gannon said.
William Schievella, policing coordinator for the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, is another longtime volunteer at the soup kitchen.
“Once you go one time and see it,” he said, “you’ll want to come back. Because you say, ‘Wow, this is a special place.'”
Steve believes that.
“There’s a lot of homeless people out there, hungry people out there, that really need the help,” he said. “I’m very appreciative of it.”
It’s a nice sentiment for Thanksgiving. He hopes for another reason to give thanks before the next one rolls around.
“I can’t wait for this place to open back up,” Steve said.
For him, no place else comes close.
Many thanks to M-G for covering both the efforts and the needs of Table of Hope at this season. Those of us who are fortunate enough to not need their help can surely give them some!