God's Kitchen, Inc.

HISTORY AND MISSIONS STATEMENT FOR GOD?S KITCHEN


CONCEPT:
On September 14, 2005, Greg Porter, a business man from Kentucky, came with two of his employees and began cooking in the middle of Highway 90 in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This became known as "Burgers on the Beach."
At the same time, a church group along with missionaries from Mexico set up a distribution center in what was the Wal-Mart parking lot in Pass Christian. They began distributing food, clothing, water, and items needed for basic survival, as well as they began to organize work teams to begin clean up.
After Rita hit the nearby coast, the two entities merged on the location at 1501 E. Beach Blvd. to form God's Katrina Kitchen. We operated there until a year later when we relocated in October 2006 to 554 Camp Avenue, where we continue to serve the local communities of Gulfport, Long Beach, and Pass Christian.
God's Katrina Kitchen is much more than a place which provides food, although we have served as many as 1,223 people during a single meal. We also send both skilled and unskilled volunteer work teams into the communities. These work teams provide services such as property clean-up, gutting of houses, roofing, and skilled construction. We are rebuilding homes from the ground up, as God rebuilds the lives of Katrina survivors.
The first home completed by God's Katrina Kitchen was that of a retired couple with disabilities, Don & Joyce Rhyne. They lost hope when they saw the piles of debris that had washed against their Long Beach home. They contacted God's Katrina Kitchen, and volunteers were sent to them. Through the kitchen and grant monies from Camp Hope it was possible for this couple to return home.They were only given $12,000 from their insurance and FEMA to completely rebuild.
God's Katrina Kitchen exists because of volunteers and donations from faith based groups. There are 25-30 volunteer staff members which keep everything going with the help of short-term volunteer groups.
God's Katrina Kitchen has done work on hundreds of properties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and served over 1,000,000 hot meals. At the end of 2006, we had over 10,000 families who were recipients of items from our distribution center, we had distributed toys to over 5,000 children for Christmas, as well as we had completely rebuilt 10 homes, and 17 others were near completion.
We continue to partner with the communities of the Gulf Coast in rebuilding homes and lives. Our mission here at God's Katrina Kitchen is to feed the hungry, both volunteers as well as local residents, and assist in cleaning up and rebuilding the Coast. We make it possible for many of the large volunteer groups to come to the Gulf to help in the relief efforts, by providing them with housing and meals.
Located on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, amidst the devastation and debris, we are a place of peace, hope, caring, love and comfort. Our motto, "Many Churches, One God", is lived out here on a daily basis. Many churches and denominations are working together, not under any specific organization, but under The One True God. Good food and Good News...given in Jesus' name.
Our goal is to continue providing these services to the survivors of Katrina in the region, as well as going to the aid of souls of future disasters. With the many hours of volunteer services and donations, we can help the broken and hurting survivors of disasters.

OUR FUTURE plans are to respond to disasters, as a first response disaster relief team, CAVALRY FOR CHRIST, under our organization, GOD'S KITCHEN, INC. Volunteers who have served during our first response to Hurricane Katrina, have formed a team of qualified individuals to serve those affected by disasters throughout the years to come, and coordinate short-term volunteers who are interested in responding to disaster needs.

We envision the first response unit to consist of the following:
One mobile kitchen completely self contained and capable of feeding 4,000 meals at one seating, a refrigerated-freezer trailer, a dishwashing trailer, a dry storage trailer, two self-contained shower trailers, two self-contained restroom trailers, two buses that will also double as sleeper units, two sleeper unit trailers, a 6,000 gallons propane truck, a 60,000 gallon potable water truck, a 50KW generator truck, and a command trailer. These units will be staged throughout the Southeast USA at various churches that have been faithful with donations and volunteers. We will buy or lease additiional equipment as needed.
Our first goal is to feed all of God?s creatures. We envision having the equipment and volunteers available for disaster clean up, and materials available to help rebuild. We intend to respond with the commitment to stay the course of the recovery.