It Started With 15 Meals, Now It's 2 Million | From Meal Service to Culinary Career Training: Shepherd's Table Ep. 168

If you care about homelessness and food insecurity, you've probably asked yourself: where can my support actually change someone's life for good, not just for a night?

 43 years ago, 15 people sat down to dinner in a small house kitchen in Montgomery County. Today, Shepherd's Table has served over 2 million meals and has never missed a single day.

 Daniella Burgos, Director of Development, joins Jamie to talk about how their community's response to hunger grew into something far bigger than a soup kitchen — a 12-week Culinary Skills Training Program that has turned meal guests into professional chefs, a free eye clinic, and a clothing closet that restores dignity one outfit at a time.

 With neighbors in Montgomery County still facing food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty every day, Shepherd's Table hasn't stopped showing up. Get involved at shepherdstable.org.

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This episode was post produced by Podcast Boutique https://podcastboutique.com/

Transcript

A Hot Meal As A Turning Point

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What if a hot meal could be the first step towards a new life? From a smallhouse kitchen serving just 15 people to more than 2 million meals served across 43 years, this episode is all about what it looks like when a community shows up. Today on the Truman Charities podcast, we're joined by Daniela Burgess, Director of Development at Shepherd's Table, an organization serving Montgomery County's neighbors experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty. We talk about how Shepherd's Table provides hot, nutritious meals three times a day, every single day, while offering so much more than food, including workforce development through their culinary skills training program, a free iClinic, and a clothing closet that restores dignity and confidence. You'll hear stories of transformation from meal guests becoming professional chefs to life-changing moments inspired by their iClinic. But before we talk to Daniela, please take a moment to rate and review the Truman Charities podcast. We are a 100% volunteer-based organization. So the reviews really do help introduce our podcast to new listeners. Okay. Now it's time to welcome Daniela to Truman Charities. So, Daniela, you are the director of development for Shepherd's Table. And I want to know a little bit about exactly what your organization is and how you're helping people in Montgomery County who are experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, and poverty.

Inside The Daily Hot Meal Program

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Shepherd's Table has a pretty wonderful story. Our roots are really based in the community. We started 43 years ago in a small house kitchen in which we had 15 people join dinner that evening. They were brought in by some wonderful volunteers from a really wonderful group of congregations and synagogues that came together realizing that there was a real issue happening. Homelessness, food insecurity was a real problem in Montgomery County, and they really wanted to do something about it that really spoke to their values. And so they came together to volunteer every evening to put on a dinner for people in their community, their neighbors. And it's grown over the last 43 years to involve a lot more than just a meal. We are proud to say that we've never missed a meal service in our 43 years of serving our community, but we are so much more than a soup kitchen. We provide a lot more programs under kind of the social services umbrella. And we have an eye clinic, a free iClinic for Montgomery County neighbors and residents. And so we are so excited to not only kind of uphold some of these values and mission that started 43 years ago by making sure that a hot meal is provided three times a day and twice on the weekends, but also adding more programs that really speak to helping our clients and our meal guests create pathways towards well-being. A part of our mission is to really be a support system and a reliable place in which people can find the resources they need, but also find the support that they need, whether it's, you know, through our culinary skills program, which is our workforce development program, so that they can get the skills to maybe get a job in a field that feels aligned with what they're needing at that moment, or whether it's finding job interview clothes at our clothing closet. So just really providing meals and thinking outside the box at the same time is really important to us.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yes. I was reading about your culinary skills training program, and I want to talk about that because that's really interesting. But let's first talk a little bit about your daily meal program. You have, if I am correct, served over two million meals. Yes. Yes. That is incredible. So tell me exactly how the meal program had was created, and how do you choose what type of meals and how do you find the people to serve?

Culinary Training That Leads To Jobs

SPEAKER_01 4:17

So our meal program is really based in this kind of volunteer, kind of necessary program. We could not do those daily meals without our amazing volunteers, some who are regulars and have been for years and years. And so we have uh full-time chefs uh that create the meal and menu planning. A lot of what they do is um making sure that we have a protein, a vegetable, a starch at every meal, making sure that it's um kind of a hot and kind of nutritiously complete meal. We also want to make sure that it feels comforting. So a lot of these are favorite recipes of our chefs, whether it's a beautiful stew that um people have grown up with, or you know, the best casserole that anyone has ever had. Our meal guests also thoroughly enjoy themed nights. They love a taco Tuesday. They love um lunch on Fridays because those are usually hot sandwiches. So it's really an opportunity for our chefs to get creative with you know the resources that we get because we get a lot of our food donated to us. And so the ingredients that we're using, um, people have to get creative and put something really wonderful together, which they always do. And so there's a menu planning and kind of setting up and things like that. And then throughout the day, we're cooking. And our kitchen is kind of fully packed with not only our chefs and our kitchen assistants, but also volunteers that want to come and help food prep. So they're doing a lot of chopping of potatoes and onions and making sure that the salad has been created or the veggies have been chopped for something. And then for meal service, we have about 15 volunteers every meal service who join us in um kind of a buffet style line to help serve the meal. Uh, we have volunteers walking the floor, helping, you know, our meal guests throw things away, uh, finish up, get additional drinks or things like that. And then we have wonderful dishwashers. And now our volunteer dishwashers take their job very seriously. It's a hot place to be in uh dishwashing. We have a beautiful, kind of huge machine that helps to do all of that stuff. So, yeah, so we have um some really, really wonderful volunteers that take their jobs very seriously, um, especially during meal service. But it's a really incredible team that comes together to be able to put the meals out. And we have a kind of a cafeteria style um setup with a beautiful kitchen that we were able to design. And yeah, it takes the full community to be able to do this. And we're so lucky that, you know, our roots kind of started that this kind of volunteer-led program.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

So tell us a little bit, which I found very interesting, your culinary skills training program, which I believe is it a 12 or a 16-week course?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

So it's a 12-week intensive training with four weeks of an internship. So 16 total. But the 12 weeks are really, you know, it's an everyday eight to four training in which our our students uh we pick smaller cohorts of students, but these are students from our meal guest and our client community that really are ready to take the next step in their journey. And so they do not only what we call knife skills, but also life skills. That's a big part of our program and our curriculum is to really work on social emotional intelligence, but also teamwork. Because in a kitchen, you're working together and that's really important. But we're also really going through some of the some of our students' traumas and really figuring out how to lean on each other, how to work together, how to overcome and be resilient in those moments. And all doing this while growing the confidence to cook and create a menu and meals. And so they learn all the basics from, you know, knife skills to mother sauces to really putting together a nutritiously complete like menu. We end the 12-week intensive with a showcase of what they've learned. And so uh this last time our students put together a coursed meal for our meal guests for dinner service, which was just really, really beautiful and wonderful. You know, they had creme brulee for dessert, they had salads, they had just, you know, a beautiful chicken that they were roasting all day, you know, so just really wonderful food that you would find in a restaurant. But really, the meal guests loved to like see this kind of different menu, but they also loved that some of their colleagues and friends were were the ones that were able to make it for them and they've accomplished something so big. And so that that type of camaraderie and and community was just so beautiful to watch. And then, you know, to be able to do it in our kind of cafeteria style, it felt a little bit odd, but also just a wonderful evening in which there was a lot of joy, a lot of music, and a lot of really, really good food.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

It sounds really good. Um is there one student that kind of stands out to you that has been through the culinary training program and has really succeeded?

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yes, um, absolutely. Um, we've had a couple, but one story really stands out because she actually joined our Shepherd's Table team of chefs and kitchen assistants after her time in the culinary skills program. Rabah learned of the culinary skills program after coming to Shepherd's Table for a couple of meals. She had previously uh been a caretaker of her elderly family members. And after they had passed, she was really lost, but but also facing homelessness. And so, in her effort to try to, you know, as a young woman trying to kind of get uh things back on track, she found Shepherd's table while riding the bus during the day and was able to get a meal and really interact with some of our other meal guests. And at that time, we were uh taking applications for the Culinary Skills Training Program. And so through our social services team, she learned about the program and she was able to apply and really, really had her heart set on really creating a career path. She had always been uh very passionate about cooking. Uh, her elderly family members had always loved to cook, and so this uh felt like a really safe space for her in the kitchen, and she really blossomed. Uh, she was very shy when she entered the program and a little bit, you know, unsure of herself. But through learning and really mastering these like skills, like knives and mother sauces and all this stuff, you could see her gaining confidence in herself and really being able to open up and tell a little bit more about her story and what it means to her. And so by the end of the program, she had just blossomed and really, really thrived in the environment. And it was kind of a situation in which the staff were like, we can't let her go. She she needs to be a part of this team. She, her passion and her heart were were very in line with some of our staff's values and things like that. And so she joined, you know, after her graduation, she joined the team as a kitchen assistant and has really loved sharing some of her favorite meals. Uh, she has a wonderful sweet potato pudding dessert that she breaks out every month for our meal guests, which they absolutely love. And she's just, you know, gaining so much knowledge of how to cook for so many people. You know, we're serving over 200 people at every meal. And so that type of kind of knowledge and learning that skill is a really big deal. And so for her to come from, you know, just like a 12-week intensive to then really trying to master those skills of being able to work and manage a kitchen and a team is so important. And, you know, there's another level of personal interaction that she's just really mastered with our volunteers as well. As the manager of the kitchen and kind of the head honcho during some of those mealtimes, it's important that you have a good rapport with everyone. And she's just such a shining light. And she uh completed one year here at Shepherd's Table this past winter and is just growing every single day. And so we're just so thankful that we have this program and this curriculum in place, but also it's just such a testament because two-thirds of our graduates have found jobs. And so it's we're just so overjoyed that not only are we able to help in that regard as far as employment, but some of our favorite restaurants in the area have been able to help out and make sure that we're training people for the kitchens that they're going to go to. And they're so thankful for that because that can be really, really hard to find somebody that can work in a kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

So you mentioned that you're serving over, you know, 200 people per meal. Tell me a little bit about how these people that are in need find Shepherd's Table.

Eye Care Support And Clothing Closet

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yeah, that's a great question because since we've been in the area for so long, there have, you know, it's a lot of word of mouth, but really it's through our Montgomery County's continuum of care. Within the Services to End and Prevent Homelessness, we are a partner. We are someone that we get referred to, you know, a lot of people get referred to us, especially uh because we are in a location with a housing partner. And so Interfaith Works is our housing partner who I know um has previously been on, but we're in the same building as them. And so we're working together. A lot of people come for a meal, but they get so much more out of it as we're able to refer people to Interfaith Works, and we're able to make sure that that we're kind of a reliable support system, just making sure that they have access to meals every single day, as well as this training program if they want.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

So when I was on your website and I was looking at all your programs and I saw the iClinic and I said, huh, how did this come about? Right. Because you have your your meal, you know, your serving meals, and then you have this culinary training program. And I said, How does iClinic come about? So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, so you know, that I think is another testament to our community and our our wonderful volunteers. It started with we had an eye doctor that wanted to uh serve her community. And we were like, that's a great idea. We want to do that too. And specifically eye health with the the people that we serve and the and the neighbors that we serve is definitely a medical care that gets lost. It's not something that that people are aware of so intently, but it is something just because of the conditions that one might uh be living in, that's so important to make sure that regular screenings are done. And so we started very simply as someone kind of once a month setting up shop at our location and just doing eye um exams, quickly realizing that through those eye exams, there was a lot of people that needed additional care. So we then uh partnered with some eye doctors around Montgomery County to do additional referrals for cataract screenings, glaucoma screenings, and then again, just trying to figure out if we can additionally help them financially if they needed to get additional care for glaucoma or cataract surgeries. You know, we had a client who it was something that she had never thought about, kind of eye care. And because she had been coming here so long to our resource center and had been getting her mail here, she had decided to sign up for an eye exam. And through that eye exam, uh realized that she did have glaucoma. And the process in which our eye doctor was able to kind of guide her through that, especially to be a support system during that, was really, really wonderful to see because there was a lot of, you know, it's a it's a big choice, especially with funds and things like that, on what you're spending your money on and and how you're spending it. And so to really take care of herself and realize that this could lead to additional things. It could lead to her losing her eyesight, a lot of this stuff, just having that support system around her to help her make that decision, to help her financially, but also kind of emotionally. She was able to kind of get some of those uh treatments and surgeries. And it's a a new lease on life when you're when you're able to see, when you're able to feel good about your eyesight and what you can accomplish as well. It really gave her the confidence to go after some of those uh additional kind of goals that she had, and um, like getting a job and making sure that not only is she doing stuff to kind of help her financially, but also self-care, right? Making sure she's going to regular appointments and medical appointments and things like that, just to make sure that the whole person is being taken care of.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Talking about taking care of the whole person, you guys also have clothing closet. So tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah, that also just um kind of spurred from volunteers putting together some drives for us uh for our resource center. We give out regularly underwear, t-shirts, socks to uh anybody that comes to our resource center window. And so we were getting extra donations of shirts and pants and different things like that. And so uh we created a clothing closet in which people can shop. We are really strong proponents of making sure that there's dignity and making sure that every instance of our programs people can feel taken care of, but also that they uh can have choice in some of their options and things like that. So we have a beautiful clothing closet that was actually done by an Eagle Scout troop uh that came in and put racks on the walls and really makes it feel like a store. And so people uh can sign up to have a 30-minute window to go in and shop and pick out some items. And so it ranges from people just needing, you know, an extra set of pants or or shirt, or in those special kind of emergency instances, do we find people that have an upcoming job interview and so they need something more appropriate for that? And so we get the whole staff together to be able to help them out and and shop. And you know, I think that's we've had so many instances of our clients coming in and and picking out a beautiful blouse that's been donated and then using it in a job interview. And because it was that color or specific color, they felt the confidence and and they were able to get the job and they felt the support around, you know, that kind of shopping instance. And I think that that really helps someone kind of move forward and be, you know, feel like they look the part.

What Growth Looks Like Next

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Yeah. When you look good, you feel good, right? It gives you that confidence. So tell us a little bit about how you see Shepherd's Table in the future.

How To Volunteer Donate Attend May 6

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yeah, this is something that we're talking about right now as we realize that food insecurity is rising. Unfortunately, here in Montgomery County, so is people uh experiencing homelessness. And so what we're thinking about right now is how we work more in partnership with some of these other nonprofits that are doing similar things, right? What does our food system look like? And so that we can provide not only pantry boxes, but maybe prepared meals as well, so that we're taking a little bit of the stress, specifically for families that might not have the time or really the energy to kind of put together uh kind of a fully prepared meal. We're also hoping to expand um our services to other shelters and be able to provide warm, hot meals to people in our wonderful shelters elsewhere in Montgomery County. We also very much want to expand our culinary skills training program. That's really, really important to us. We we've seen so much good from it. And so we just want to make sure that that our curriculum is all set, that we um have more teachers, that we have maybe some coaches as well that can be uh really wonderful life coaches for our students. You know, maintaining a smaller cohort is important to us, but doing it more frequently throughout the year. Right now we're doing it about three times a year. We would love to do it more. And so it's just really important for us to not only think about how we feed people here at our location in Silver Spring, but also how we're feeding people elsewhere in Montgomery County and how we can do that better, and then really training people for this um, for this kind of larger journey uh that some people are ready for here at our location and making sure that they they feel the support through our workforce development program.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

So, how can people People help your organization and do you have any events for us to look forward to?

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Yeah, we are an organization that relies heavily on volunteers. And so if people would like to go to our website, we use the Volunteer Hub platform in which there's a full calendar of things that people can sign up for, whether it's a meal shift to serve a meal or to help sort clothes in our clothing closet. That's always needed. And so we use that program for volunteers that want to come on site, but we always need food. So donation drives are a big help to us, uh, whether it's uh a drive of socks or canned goods. We also love when uh people maybe provide bagged lunches. So if in between our mealtimes we have some people come for an emergency or something like that, we can hand it, make sure that they get some food before they kind of start their their intake processing here. So bagged lunches are always a wonderful thing to to maybe get a group or a club together to fix up and donate here. And so donation drives are are huge. And then we do have our spring fundraiser. It's gonna be a catered event from our our culinary skills training program students, but it's really a wonderful evening that we hope a lot of our community members come and get excited about. That will be on May 6th at the Silver Springs Civic Center. And then, you know, we always love when people want to come by and take tours and do anything like that. And so here at Progress Place in downtown Silver Spring, that's always open. And we hope that people can come and volunteer too.

Daniela’s Story And Why She Stays

SPEAKER_00 23:44

So we'll make sure that I have all that in the show notes. So if you're listening, I'll have the website and how you can get in touch with Daniela and all of that good stuff. So tell me, I want to know a little bit about you though. So you're the director of development. Tell me how you got involved within this organization and why you're so passionate about it.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Yeah, so I actually, in a former life, I was in PR and communications, but with that um organization, I really worked heavily with uh nonprofits. And so I was uh creating a lot of communications plans and doing a lot of media for nonprofits in this area, in the DMB area, realizing that I wasn't really able to kind of put it in action, right? I would come up with all these things and I would help them, but I didn't have much ownership over it. And so I actually, one of my uh former bosses reached out to me about Shepherd's Table. And, you know, in a kismet moment, when you're thinking like, what can I do? What more can I do? She said that this is an organization that kind of needed my skills. And so I was so excited to kind of put a lot of my thoughts and strategies and ideas into action at such an organization that that feels not only, you know, so authentic in how we do things, but also has so many stories to tell from our meal guests and clients, but also to our volunteers who have, you know, some have been here for close to 40 years, right? They've been with us uh since the very beginning, whether it's volunteering in the kitchen or being a longtime donor. There's just so much storytelling, which I absolutely love. And I'm a DMV native. This is a place and a location that's near and dear to me. And and, you know, I have my family has roots in nonprofit work. That's actually where my parents met. And so being a part of a nonprofit and really working on fundraising and things like that, those were all values and missions that I kind of grew up with. So it just felt very natural. I'm also a huge foodie. So, you know, I love going to restaurants around this area. And so being a part of an organization that feeds people and really feeds their soul is just has just been such a treat. It really has. And it's just a place I look forward to coming to every day.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Wow. Well, Daniela, you have done some incredible work within the organization. But before I let you go, is there anything that we haven't covered that you think someone should know?

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, when I think about Shepherd's Table and Montgomery County specifically, I do think about the wonderful community that we're in. I'm so hopeful. You know, I think a lot of the time we're thinking about what we can do more, but people are doing more already. And so I do want to just say, you know, a very big thank you to our community that that supports us not only financially, but also in kind through donations and through volunteering here at Shepherd's Table. I also really want to kind of speak on the resilience not only of our community, but also our male guests. Even, you know, through hard times, they they really take care of each other. And that's just such a beautiful thing to see every day. And so I find that sometimes we can be overwhelmed with all the stuff that needs to be done, but there's really wonderful work being done. And it's just, it's a great time to be a part of that. And I just want to say thank you again for allowing me to come on and having the opportunity to share a little bit more about Shepherd's Table. I really, really appreciate it.

Rate Review Follow And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Oh my gosh, of course, you guys are doing some really incredible work. And I had just heard about you guys through Interfaith Work. So I'm really excited to share this with our network and get more people involved within your organization. So, Danielle, I want to thank you again for coming on. And then I want to thank everybody for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities podcast. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Daniela and learned a lot about Shepherd's Table. If you liked this episode, please take a minute to rate and review our podcast. As I had mentioned before, the reviews really do count. If you'd like to follow us, you can follow us on Instagram at Jamie underscore Truman Charities, Facebook at Truman Charities, and you can follow me on LinkedIn at Jamie Truman. So you don't miss any of Truman Charity's upcoming events like our Derby Party or our Bethesda's best happy hours, please go to Truman Charities.com and sign up for our newsletter. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities Podcast. Until next time,