Dana Collins on Serving Her Community

“Hello, love,” smiles Dana Collins as she greets the next person in line at Our Father’s Table Soup Kitchen. As coordinator of the nonprofit located at Mt. Zion AME Church on 28th Avenue in Gifford, Collins has been preparing and serving nutritious meals to those in need for 25 years, and she’s not about to hang up her white apron anytime soon. She considers her love of cooking a gift, and it’s one she gladly shares with those less fortunate.

“I’m here at 5 o’clock in the morning to start getting things going,” Collins explains. “Some days we have turkey or fish, mashed potatoes; some days it’s hamburgers and rice or spaghetti and meatballs. We always have soup, a vegetable, salad, rolls, and dessert. I try to take peoples’ dietary restrictions into account.”

She continues, “We get chicken, bread, and rolls from Publix, meat from The Salvation Army, and a young man from the Shining Light Garden comes and delivers fresh vegetables. Desserts are donated either by Publix or by volunteers. People have been very good to us and we appreciate it.”

Our Father’s Table receives no government funding, relying instead on financial support from churches, businesses, and foundations, plus volunteers who have a heart for helping others—volunteers like Collins, who before dawn is slicing, dicing, browning, basting, and baking, doing whatever it takes to make sure the day’s meal is delicious, nutritious, and ready on time.

“Right now, we have 80 people who need food delivered to their home. They may be disabled or up in age and can’t get here to the soup kitchen, so we take the food to them. I have everybody’s address on a list, and I give it to the driver, who comes here about 9:30 along with volunteers who help load up the van.”

At noon, the soup kitchen’s doors open, and on a typical day about 50 people stream in seeking nourishment. Some faces are familiar, others new; all are welcome. Grace is said before every meal. Our Father’s Table is open year-round, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last year, 37,580 meals were prepared, served, and delivered with care, thanks to Collins and her fellow
volunteers.

“It’s amazing how people can come together and do such wonderful things for each other,” says Collins. “For me it’s simple: there are people who are going hungry and I love to cook, always have, ever since I was a little girl. I used to stand in the kitchen and watch my grandmother cook, and I’d say to myself, ‘Someday I want to be doing that.’ And here I am.”

“Sure, I’m exhausted at the end of the day, but this is something the Lord has blessed me with. I love helping people and I love being here doing what I’m doing. I’m 65 years old, so I probably have a few good years left in me.”