“I can’t prepare it. But I can eat it!” Harold Carter said, diving into his 6 p.m. meal at Hillel this past Sunday.
Carter is one of many homeless West Philadelphians who come for dinner through the University City Hospitality Coalition, which serves six meals a week at different spots around Penn’s campus, attracting anywhere from 60 to 120 guests per sitting.
“They’re a blessing. They’re all a blessing. Monday to Monday. There’s always somewhere to come at Penn. I tell everyone. Come to the University of Pennsylvania!” said Darryl Harris, another UCHC patron.
UCHC was started in 1984 after a well-known homeless man named Stanley Biddle froze to death after falling asleep on 38th Street. Since then, religious and community leaders have begun serving free hot meals and sandwiches weekly, broadening UCHC to include a medical clinic and a legal clinic staffed by Penn students and community members once a week.
“It’s really a levelling of people,” College senior and Hillel Soup Kitchen Director Hannah Weiss said. “You can talk and have a conversation with people with different lives and backgrounds.”
Weiss is the only student on the UCHC board, and has been attending the meals since her freshman year.
“A lot of them are just so brilliant. Just by talking to them you get frustrated with the fact that they clearly haven’t had the same opportunities that we have,” Weiss said of the people UCHC serves.
College senior and Hillel Soup Kitchen Co-director Amy Smith also enjoys the conversational aspect of the meals.
“I tell them what tests are coming up. I talk about my thesis I’m writing for urban studies, and they give me advice on how to continue,” Smith said. “And it’s not just one way. It’s also the guests coming to us and telling us about their experiences.”
Wharton junior Ethan Monreal-Jackson is concentrating in both Finance and Social Impact and Responsibility, the newest addition to the Wharton curriculum. For him, the meals are an extension of the classroom.
“We want to make more ABCS courses, more courses that work with the community and require you to think about your impact,” said Monreal-Jackson, who is working with faculty to improve the social impact side of his concentration.
However, Wharton is already involved with UCHC, throwing an annual fundraiser through the Management-100 program. For a nonprofit organization funded entirely by private donations, this involvement makes a real difference.
“They’re people, and they want to sit down and talk to you. Throughout the week I’ll run into them and have great conversations,” Monreal-Jackson said.
However, some of the guests don’t receive recognition from UCHC volunteers who later see them around campus. “A lot of times, college kids, they see us, they cross over the other side of the street,” said a UCHC guest who goes by Bill Bill. He has been attending UCHC meals for 15 years.
“You might be a little lighter-skinned than me, but I got a better sun tan. You all are my little sisters. Don’t think if you see us out on the street, you’re not gonna say hi,” Bill Bill added.
Hillel itself has made efforts in reaching out to community members and groups. It brings in middle schoolers from West Philadelphia once a month to volunteer, and has kids from a nearby synagogue teach a class on social responsibility.
Performing arts groups, such as Discord, the Penn Gospel Choir, Shabbatones, Strictly Funk, Pennchants and Freaks of the Beat, also plan performances at the Soup Kitchen.
These additions make the Hillel meal a favorite for Soup Kitchen guest Rick Ross. “More people come and interact with you here. [...] It’s just a nice atmosphere,” he said.
Other Penn community members also contribute to the meals. Weiss remembers occasions when Sigma Delta Tau and Alpha Phi sororities volunteered. Service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega also picks up pastries from Huntsman Hall’s Au Bon Pain to donate weekly.
The Penn dining service, Bon Appetit Management Company, prepares the Sunday night dinner, funded by Hillel. But the rest of the meals are in the hands of UCHC meal coordinator Lee Ann Draud, a figure loved by the volunteer and guest communities alike.
“You got the president, you got the first lady, she’s the second lady,” UCHC patron Josiah Middleton said.
“More than they know them as UCHC meals, they know them as Lee Ann’s meals,” Weiss added.
Draud has been serving meals for the past 20 years through UCHC. “I have met many wonderful people and many confident people,” Draud said. “People think homeless people are different from us, but they’re not.”
But the UCHC patrons also love the students. “The students are great!” said Middleton. “They’re all my children.”
“You out with your friends, you out partyin’ or something, someone less fortunate might be looking through the trash can. Don’t judge them. Respect us like we respect you,” Bill Bill added. “I think y’all are cool!”
