YOU CAN BECOME A CHEF BY HELPING THE GATHERING MOVE TO ST. BEN'S

THE GATHERING AT ST. JAMES TO BECOME

THE GATHERING ON STATE STREET

2017 CAPITAL CAMPAIGN:  MOVE WITH THE GATHERING

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN GOAL:   $50,000    CAMPAIGN TIMEFRAME: January – April 2017

SUGGESTED GIVING CATEGORIES:          HOW TO DONATE:

 $10,000                 Master Chef                  Check payable to:The Gathering, 804 E. Juneau Ave.  $5,000                   Chef                                                                  Milwaukee, WI 53202        $1,000                   Sous Chef                      MC or Visa:             414-272-4122 (Gathering office)  $500                      Cook                              Online: www.thegatheringwis.org                                     $100                       Server                           Email:   soulfood@thegatheringwis.org

OVERVIEW:  Begun in 1982, The Gathering prepares and serves hot, nutritious meals to Milwaukee’s hungry and homeless (90,000-100,000 annually) through four locations; provides food support to a north side tutoring/mentoring program; and conducts the Fresh Produce Preservation Project to preserve excess donated produce for use in Gathering meals.

Now, after 35 years at St. James Episcopal Church on 8th & Wisconsin (our founding site), we are moving our downtown breakfast and Saturday lunch programs to a new location.  The St. James building is up for sale and our ability to remain there is in question.  We have, therefore, secured space at St. Ben’s Community Meal on 9th & State.  This is a win-win for our Breakfast and downtown Saturday Lunch guests, many of whom also eat dinner at St. Ben’s.  It is also an opportunity for both organizations to explore joint programming and to enhance the stewardship of our resources. 

To accomplish this move without impacting our day to day operations, we need funds specified for the anticipated costs.  By contributing to this project you will help continue to provide Milwaukee’s hungry and homeless a hot breakfast and Saturday lunch for as long as the need exists.  Target date for the move is mid-March 2017.

# OF GUESTS TO BE SERVED AT DOWNTOWN SITE IN 2017:                                          Breakfast – 48,000                                                                                                                                  Saturday Lunch – 11,000

EXPENSE ITEMS:                                                                                                                          1.   $10,000:  Physical move of major equipment, cookware, bakeware, tools, storage racks,    tables, chairs, supplies and food.                                                                                                  2.  $25,000:  Purchase of equipment to fit available space (walk-in cooler, commercial fridge, rolling and standard storage, etc.)  The Gathering cooks all meals on site, requiring substantial equipment, prep space and storage.  Because space at St. Ben’s is limited due to their own meal service, we will be sharing certain equipment, creating space for some currently owned, purchasing new equipment to fit into available space, and locating creative tools to move supplies needed daily from one area to another.                                                                                          3. $15,000: Renovation costs including construction, electrical, plumbing, signage.                  

Cookies for our Christmas Dinners-over 5,000-made by parishioners of St. James' Catholic Parish, Mukwonago

Thanks to St. James Mukwonago parishioners for baking, decorating and packaging over 5,000 cookies for our Christmas dinners held at all four of The Gathering meal sites on Saturday, December 17.  They also donated oranges, tangerines, candy canes, coffee and winter outerwear.  Each guest left their particular meal site with a treat bag full of Christmas goodies. 

                Sometimes it’s the “little” things that bring the biggest smiles.   

2016 Gathering Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving meals were made very festive with placemats made by students at Menomonee Falls North Middle School, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and Mt. Horeb Baptist Church.

Click below for more examples of giving.

Great Examples of Giving

Meet Our New Breakfast Team

The Breakfast Team:  Christopher, Nicole, and Patricia

In the fall of 2015 we welcomed Nicole Franklin as our new Breakfast Coordinator, Patricia Moore as our new Breakfast Cook, and Christopher Pernell as our newly assigned Security Guard. In a recent conversation the three agreed that they make a very good team and are blessed that they can make a difference in someone’s life every day at work.

Nicole: Mother of 3 daughters and one son (ages 10-19). Nicole has 20 years experience working in community organizations. She continues to work with children from Kindergarten-8th grade and their parents as Site Coordinator for two of COA’s afterschool programs. Nicole loves giving back and especially “loves the people” (our guests). Born and raised in Milwaukee (Milwaukee High School of the Arts), Nicole enjoys driving, all sorts of travel and spending time with her family.

My observation: Nicole has an amazing ability to approach any situation calmly and with reason; she is unflappable and upbeat.

Patricia: Mother of 4 daughters and grandmother of 6 (ages 2-14). Pat loves, loves, loves cooking. She has cooked professionally in the community for 27 years, and continues to cook at the St. Vincent de Paul south side dinner program. Pat appreciates how the Breakfast Program works and enjoys giving back to the community. Born in Louisiana, Pat moved to Milwaukee as a teenager (North Division High School). She enjoys spending time with her grandkids, family gatherings, and, of course, cooking.

My observation: Pat expresses joy daily in her work in The Gathering’s Breakfast kitchen; she does indeed love cooking and treasures the feedback from our guests; she is quick to smile.

Christopher: Assigned to The Gathering by Great Lakes Security. Chris was born and raised in Milwaukee (Northwest High School) and is the uncle to many nephews. What Chris likes about providing security at the Breakfast Program is that he is also helping people, putting a smile on someone’s face, calming situations that arise, simply providing a cup of coffee. He has come to feel fortunate for what he has been given. Outside of work, Chris enjoys his nephews, plays basketball, and serves as a volunteer basketball coach at COA.

My observation: Great smile; willing to help in any way possible – welcoming guests and volunteers, unloading the delivery van, handing out coffee, assisting in finding guest resources – in addition to providing security.

 In closing, the team agreed that - even though from time to time they are dragging, not quite awake (arrival time is 6:30 a.m.) or just not moving very fast - when the meal guests arrive, so does the energy. If you haven’t had a chance to see the team at work, come on down! Individuals and groups up to 3 people are welcome any Monday – Friday morning, 7:00-10:00 a.m., St. James’ Episcopal Church, 833 W. Wisconsin Avenue. Larger groups, please call The Gathering office at 414-272-4122 to schedule.

Congrats to Stanley Hudson!

Stanley Hudson, a proud MPM scholarship recipient

“I am committed. I am committed to my recovery and to teaching music,” Stanley Hudson told me over the phone. His voice was so up-beat you could almost hear his smile. “Life is real good now. I am taking it back.”

Stanley was one of this year’s Michelle P Mooney (MPM) Scholarship Fund recipients. The MPM Scholarship Fund was established in honor of the Gathering’s first Executive Director to help with educational expenses for those connected with the Gathering. Our second recipient is Loneva Myrick.

I had the pleasure of talking with Stanley about what brought him to apply for the scholarship and how the money would be used. Stanley has a contagious energy and honesty that makes for an enjoyable conversation.

Born and raised in Alabama, Stanley’s passion for music led to a music education degree in 1978. Married with three children, Stanley described his life as a happy one until he “backslid” and became hooked on alcohol and drugs. A twenty year battle with addiction caused him to end up “homeless, jobless…I lost my family, my wife, my kids.” But Stanley will not be defined by his addiction. He has been sober for over a year and is looking forward to once again teaching music.

“The scholarship paid for a course for me to update my music teaching certificate. I now have a permanent teaching job that starts in two weeks.”

When asked what he was most looking forward to with his new job he said,

“Getting back in contact with kids in the community and putting on concerts. I used to put on great Christmas and winter concerts. That’s really what I’m looking forward to, performing live with the kids.”

What did the scholarship mean to Stanley?

“It made me feel that, when you’re going through a low point, a bad situation, there’s people out there that want to help pull you up. People do recover, people pull themselves up. I ate at the Gathering for 5 years, went back and saw the sign to apply for the scholarship and thought 'I’m doing real good now, I should apply'. One day I hope to do some volunteer work with The Gathering to give back.”

Stanley thanked the Gathering board and staff saying, “Keep on helping people. You never know who you’re lifting up.”

Finding a Way to Survive

by Wyatt Massey

Elliott Uglum has always been a storyteller. Anyone who has had a conversation with him can see how animated he is. He comes alive in his stories. Below, are just a few the stories Uglum shared with us.

Elliot Uglum tells stories at a Gathering meal

One moment, Elliot Uglum was playing “war games” in the Bayou of Louisiana. Then, he was in an actual war.

“Next thing you know, I’m on a ship going to Vietnam,” Uglum said.

Troubled by bad feet and the residual effects of three gunshot wounds, Uglum walks with care. Yet he speaks with force: He knows how to survive. It kept him alive in Vietnam, helped him overcome an alcohol addiction and multiple Wisconsin winters living in a tent.

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“I’ve had a good life, I’ve had a rough life.”

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Uglum was born and raised in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. When he could not find work after high school, Uglum traveled south on a rumor that there was work in Tennessee. His first job was fixing potholes on roadways in Memphis, Tennessee. He also found part-time work as a truck driver, taxi driver, body shop mechanic and sandwich cook.

Work, despite being part time, was steady. Uglum even fixed and painted a 1922 Bentley for a man in London, a job Uglum recalls with pride.

He was forced to leave those jobs behind, though, when he went to war.

Uglum and his friends often traveled to the French Cajun neighborhoods of Louisiana in the early 1970s to play “war games.” They would simulate battle situations with canoes in the swamps. One day, Uglum explained, a military recruiter saw him swimming and recruited him as a swim instructor in 1972.

Uglum’s movement in the water was noiseless. He kept his arms and legs low as to not disturb the water. The army needed this kind of training to sneak up on Vietnamese ships. Uglum became their instructor and mentor.

“Our job was to sink enemy ships,” Uglum said.

A group of soldiers would swim up to a ship and place plastic explosives on it. They had to move undetected in the dark since the ships were patrolled by armed Vietnamese soldiers, he said.

Uglum recalls he would often join the missions. After multiple years as an instructor, his time in the field ended when one such mission went awry. Vietnamese soldiers heard the unit and opened fire on the American attackers. He began pulling injured recruits out of the water when sharp pains ripped across his body. He had been shot in his left shoulder, left leg and between the shoulder blades. Uglum did not let the pain stop him from the rescue.

“I didn’t let go of either one,” Uglum said of the soldiers he was helping.

As the reality of his wounds set in, though, Uglum explained he needed critical medical attention or he would die.

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“I started confessing to God everything I did wrong.”

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Uglum was rushed to the nearest MASH station, which turned out to be an infirmary for Vietnamese soldiers. His recovery was slow but he had arrived in time. The colonel celebrated his 27th birthday in the enemy hospital.

When he was healthy enough to be moved, Uglum returned to the United States, ending his military career in 1977. Yet, he continues to wear an “Elite Squadron” button on his hat.

Uglum returned to Tennessee and his previous jobs. Not long after, his mother called. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was given six months to live. One of eight children, Uglum’s mother trusted him to run her house and finances. On her request, he moved to Wisconsin.

His mother died on December 9, 1980 at 9 p.m. The exact time is important to Uglum because, two hours later, he learned John Lennon was murdered. The coupling of bad news sent Uglum in a downward spiral.

“I spent six months drunk every day. Those were people I looked up to.”

Uglum was able to hide alcohol addiction enough to keep a job, first as a machinist until 1990 then as a doughnut shop manager until 2001, when he was laid off. Without steady income, he could no longer pay his rent.

The lack of support and nagging injuries from battle contributed to Uglum becoming one of the estimated 49,933 veteran homeless each night.

Yet, Uglum kept surviving. He spent the next two years living with his cousin in a tent between the railroad tracks and the Milwaukee River. They made the tent using a tarp and insulated it with straw from a local farmer. That straw insulated them from the harsh Wisconsin winters.

Finding food was another challenge.

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“We ate out of dumpsters and garbage cans,” Uglum said. “If we got sick, we wouldn’t eat out of those garbage cans anymore.”

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The two made some money recycling aluminum cans they found. When they had saved enough, they would go to a restaurant for dinner.

Uglum lived in the tent until 2003. By that time, he no longer had shoes and his feet would bleed and well from crushing the aluminum cans. He lives in Milwaukee now, receives disability payments and is saving for his next big adventure: moving out of the cold weather of Wisconsin.

“I’m waiting to get enough money to go back to Tennessee.”

Wyatt Massey is a volunteer storyteller for the Gathering. Read more of his work here.