On June 4, Our Daily Bread will serve meals for the 9,500th consecutive day since its opening in 1981.  However, after 26 years of consistent service to the poor and homeless and hungry, June 4 will mark a new era for the charity. ODB’s kitchen and dining room on Franklin Street, near the cardinal’s residence, will close, and the first meals will be served at the Catholic charity’s new location on Fallsway and Madison Street, across from Baltimore’s correctional complex. And this time, Baltimore’s needy will be able to get more than a meal there.

Sun intern Rafi Tamargo filed this report:

The new Our Daily Bread Employment Center, seen rising hard by the Jones Falls Expressway during the last year, will consist of Our Daily Bread as well as the Christopher Place Employment Center and the Maryland Reentry Partnership, providing multiple forms of support for men and women in need of something to eat and something to help them become self-reliant citizens. The center’s motto is: “Stable work, stable home, better life.”

Dennis Murphy, director of the new center, and Catholic Charities representative Renee Johnson gave me a tour of the center, walking me through as if I were a “guest” of Christopher Place. (Mr. Murphy makes a point of referring to the centers patrons as “guests” to give them a sense of dignity while visiting.  He says ODB’s goal is to offer “one of the few times these people get respect all day.”)

The tour began on a covered outdoor walkway, a long porch where patrons will line up for food and have protection on those rainy days when they need a hot meal the most.

We then entered the dining room, where each day there will be 16 tables covered with casseroles, the most popular meal at the center.  The guests can sit and relax as 35 volunteers serve them their meals, another change that the center hopes will make guests feel at home.

The dining room looks out onto what Murphy calls a “Reflection Garden,” which residents of the Christopher Center, a transitional home for ex-offenders and homeless men, will tend to.  He says there are “lots of metaphors” to be found for these men, many of whom are recovering from addictions, in cultivating the garden.

As guests leave the dining room, they pass classrooms for residents of the center, who are required to wear ties when in GED classes or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.  The idea behind design is to spark the interest of those who come for a meal: When they see others benefiting from the Employment Center’s programs, they might consider using them also.  The main hall ends at an information desk, where those inspired by the programs they have just seen can inquire about joining.

Those interested in enrolling in the new ODB center will be directed to one of two intake advisers across the lobby. These advisers assess each individual’s situation and inform him about potential jobs or programs to fit their needs.

Three offices are also reserved in the area for a rotation of outside charities wishing to help the inquiring guests.

Nine computers are available for the new residents to research job opportunities and contact employers.

Upstairs, Christopher Place has about 60 beds for men.  The first bedroom, known as “The Academy,” has 30 of the beds all together in one long hallway.  Murphy explained that the first step is to teach the men to “learn to live in a community.”  The men stay here their first 12 weeks in an 18-month program as they seek work, build their savings, and learn healthy habits.  In the first phase, they are allowed few visitors to help them start their new lives. 
Upon finding work, the residents are rewarded with more private, cubicle-like, rooms.  This section of the dorms also has a kitchenette and bathrooms shared by fewer residents.  Many will “graduate” from the center, meaning they have been employed for one full year, during this phase and they will either move in with family, or even better, buy a home.   For those with financial troubles and significant debt, 15 beds in rooms of three are reserved until they can get back on their feet.

The center provides the men with an array of programs to help them re-enter society.  Every morning at nine there are job information sessions. Computer training courses will be held in a classroom on the second floor to expand the men’s employment potential.

Other amenities include a basketball court, rec room with TV and fitness equipment, small library, and a quiet room to find peace from the close quarters in which the men live.  In addition, the men are taught responsibility.  All residents will be given chores to help maintain the building and grounds, and they’re required to save 80% of their salary once they find jobs.

Our Daily Bread Employment Center hopes to build on its past practices of serving food, and provide even more support to fully integrate its guests back into society.