Father Bill's Kitchen Feeds The Soul. St. Vincent de Paul of North Idaho remodels kitchen, dining hall serves the hungry.

The cold realities of living on the streets were never more apparent than when watching a group of a dozen men leave St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho’s Father Bill’s Kitchen last Thursday.

They pondered where to go, where to sleep and what to do. With no home to go to, they faced an uncertain night. As twilight descended upon them, the crisp air felt colder than usual. Fortunately, the warm meal they had just eaten would help sustain them.

“It sticks to your insides,” said Adam Alesiani, who regularly eats there. “It keeps you full.”

Inside Father Bill’s Kitchen another dozen men and women huddled over their plates and ate quietly. This is survival for many people living in the Coeur d’Alene area.

““People have no idea what goes on here every day,” said Gillis Jacks, the dining hall manager. “We have a lot of people in bad situations. This is God’s work. “

Jacks, a soft-spoken chef, looked satisfied for good reason — many of the patrons were having their only meal of the day. He watched carefully as people ate the food he had prepared. With limited resources, Jacks makes the most out of what he has to work with on a daily basis.

“I love taking simple ingredients like potatoes and making something that tastes special like au gratin potatoes in a restaurant,” he said. “Every day is a fun challenge. I love it.”

And the diners appreciate his culinary creativity.

“The food is a lot better than you would think,” said Alesiani.

The grand opening of Father Bill’s Kitchen is this Sunday at 1 p.m. There will be a ceremony, recognition of donors, and refreshments. The updated facility is named in honor of Father William C. Crowley, a former diocesan chancellor and pastor of St. Thomas Parish, who died in 2015.

“Father Bill was a member of our Board of Directors, our Spiritual Advisor and a strong supporter of the work and services we provide our community,” said Jeff Conroy, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho. “He was a beloved man who dedicated his life toward helping people.”

Sunday’s ceremony is the culmination of a $230,000 remodeling project, which transformed the kitchen area and dining hall.

“We used to seat about 15 people at a time and now we can comfortably seat 75 people into the new dining hall,” said Conroy, who notes that St. Vincent’s still needs to raise $120,000 to cover the expansion.

“Our work is not quite done,” he said. “We can get there if we all pitch in.”

Father Bill’s Kitchen is open to the public and now serves roughly 100 meals daily, Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Last year, the nonprofit provided 14,104 meals to people in need through its dining hall and men’s and women’s shelters. An estimated 10 percent of the people who eat there are college students.

Also, the renovations added two full bathrooms with showers and laundry facilities. The HELP Center is located just two blocks from the dining hall on First Street and offers a place for the homeless and those in need to attain the services and assistance they may require to gain independence. Services available at the HELP Center include Affordable Housing offices, Idaho Department of Veterans Services, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, mail service and a wide range of other services designed to help the community.

The dining hall plays a vital role in helping those who need it most, said Conroy. The kitchen now has a six-burner stove, a large gas oven, a larger refrigerator, a dish washing station and more space for cooking.

“It really sets the table for everything else we do,” said Conroy. “This may be the only meal they’ll get every day.”

Clifford Borowiak, who is deaf, explained using American Sign Language and the spoken word that he eats regularly at Father Bill’s Kitchen because he is saving money for permanent housing.

“The food is good,” he said. “I have a job. I am working. This place helps me.”

--Written by Marc Stewart.

Marc Stewart is Director of Sponsored Content for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at mstewart@cdapress.com or 208-664-8176, ext. 2011.