I've just signed off the radio after interviewing Brother Jerry Smith about the work of the Capuchin brothers in Detroit.
I thought I'd done my bit, but Brother Jerry's words changed my mind.
He runs so much more than a soup kitchen! There is an acre and a half on Meldrum (Detroit) where the brothers and volunteers and soup kitchen patrons who want to give back not only grow organic vegetables for the soup kitchen, but they receive vegetable waste (and dead leaves and grass clippings) to be composted for organic fertilizer. (By appointment, please. Telephone 313 579 2100 ext 204)
They buy their seeds.
They also have beehives, and at this time of year, they are bottling honey.
The brothers are very close to starting their own bakery. At the moment, they teach men who have been incarcerated, or who are recovering from addictions to bake breads for the soup kitchen and cookies and cakes for sale.
The Capuchin order was started by St. Francis of Assisi. When he sent his brothers into the world to make a difference, St Francis charged them to change lives by the way they lived. "If necessary, use words," said the saint.
Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry
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