Mother’ s Cupboard
Community Kitchen
~ story and photos by Paige Langenderfer
A small group of people saw a need in the Brown County community and took action, the impact of which will never fully be measured.
“ A few good friends of mine and I were having lunch one day and we were talking about the fact that there were some food insecurities in the rural parts of the county,” Diana Biddle said.“ Someone brought up that we should start a soup kitchen. It sounded like a good idea, but none of us knew anything about starting a soup kitchen.”
Ralph Carlberg, Kyle’ s husband, stocking the pantry.
Kyle Marchuk and her daughter Rayana cooking at Mother’ s Cupboard.
Before fully committing to the idea, the group visited soup kitchens in surrounding communities to learn more.
“ The first thing we decided was that we would never serve any food that we would not serve our own mothers,” Diana said.
While doing their research, the group noticed that participants were hesitant to share personal information.
“ These people were on a downward spiral that they could not recover from. At the grocery store, and even the pharmacy, they would put back items they didn’ t have the money for,” she said.“ There were programs that could help them, but many places required qualification. That is how we came up with our first mission,‘ No questions, no forms, just food.’”
The friend group created a one-year plan. They needed a location, kitchen equipment, volunteers, and a lot of food. The work seemed almost impossible.
“ A soup kitchen is a big undertaking. It doesn’ t just happen overnight,” Diana said.“ We had to find a place to rent— and kitchen equipment is expensive.”
Over the next few months, pieces started falling into place in dramatic ways. Diana’ s mother, Nina Jo McDonald, called them“ Divine Appointments.”
“ It was crazy. The woman who owned the building we ended up renting said she had just asked God what he wanted her to do with the building,” Diana said.“ Then, we got a phone call out of the blue from a camp director who said they were remodeling their kitchen and said we could have all their old equipment if we wanted it. A pastor of a local church dropped off several totes full of kitchen utensils. These things we
62 Our Brown County May / June 2023