PITTSFIELD — Friday, April 1 looks to be a bright morning indeed for the city’s Morningside Community, where an oasis for sustenance and connection will debut in a neighborhood recently deemed a “food desert.” Guests will be invited to dine with dignity at Bright Morningstar Kitchen, a unique site with both hot meals and workforce training on the menu, thanks to the efforts of local pastors and married couple Katelynn and Jesse Miner, who met while worshiping in the very community they now serve.
“I’m so excited!” Pastor Katelynn Miner, founder and executive director of the Berkshire Dream Center, told The Edge, her voice audibly enthusiastic. “It’s been almost four years of us working at this.” She and a small but mighty team of eight have put the finishing touches on their training this week: they’ve done a run-through with both front-of-house and back-of-house teams, and met with County Ambulance as part of a monthly ChokeSaver training for restaurant employees. They’ve also finalized the opening day’s menu, which is no joke: diners will have a choice of shaved steak sub on a whole grain roll with peppers and onions; smoked corned beef and cabbage (provided by Biggins Diggins in Lanesborough); or vegetarian beans and rice with cabbage. Plus, the crew is busy baking.
A 2008 visit to Los Angeles, of all places, is what ultimately inspired Miner’s ministry in Pittsfield, one that officially took shape in 2011. “[Visiting the LA Dream Center] really stirred me to want to do more locally,” said Miner, who recognizes that, while not as prevalent as in southern California, “there’s definitely a need here,” citing a rise in unhoused individuals as well as those facing food insecurity. While not always visible to the untrained eye, food insecurity is present nonetheless. “It was really after that trip, when I came back [to Pittsfield], that the need became even more apparent,” said Miner, adding that her time away made her more attentive to her surroundings.
“In Morningside, we saw there was a gap in services,” said Miner of her decision to start there. She and other volunteers from her church (the former Northway Church, when it was congregating at Reid Middle School) met in the school parking lot and “adopted” Cherry Street, Lincoln Street, and Second Street. For three years, they knocked on doors, cleaned up the streets, and got to know the neighborhood. “That’s what I love about what we do,” she said. “It’s not about sitting back and saying what we think community needs, but hitting the pavement with a trash bag in hand and asking people, ‘How can we serve you?’” It was from this place that she and Jesse launched their many ministries.
What began as an effort to Adopt-a-Block and clean up the neighborhood has focused on food insecurity as of late. The Morningside Community has been deemed a food desert, largely defined by the USDA as a region where residents have limited access to healthful and affordable food within a certain radius. To qualify as a food desert in urban areas, at least 500 people or 33% of the population must live more than one mile from the nearest large grocery store; Big Y on West Street and Stop & Shop on Merrill Road are 1.3 and 2.4 miles respectively from the Morningside Community School. In a region where barriers such as transportation persist (and the next closest meal site is more than a 15-minute walk), the issue of food access remains ongoing.
“[Both] our food pantry and now the restaurant-style soup kitchen [arose] from seeing first-hand the food insecurity within Morningside,” said Miner, pointing to the mission of Berkshire Dream Center: “Find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it.” What began with distributing five bags of food from the back of her car in the school parking lot has grown to include two trucks (one of which is refrigerated) and over 14,000 pounds of food a month served through the mobile food pantries at five locations in Pittsfield and three in North Adams. Now, Bright Morningstar Kitchen — a project of the Berkshire Dream Center — will offer restaurant-style dining and workforce training via hands-on experience tailored to the regional hospitality industry, providing neighborhood residents with the real-life skills needed to enter the workforce.
“The people that come to our food pantry share with us,” said Miner, adding just a slice of what she has heard over the years: I’m looking for work, but I don’t have experience; nobody will hire me; I need to build my resume. Even worse, many could not prepare the food being offered as they did not have a stove at home, which made Miner pause and step back. “We needed some sort of program to help empower [community members] and help build them up,” said Miner, who ultimately landed on the Dining with Dignity model, which tackles two needs at once by providing meals and job training in one powerful punch.
“We’re just thrilled!” she said of the site’s five current program participants, each of whom has their own dream. One wants to go to college, one wants to enter the workforce, and another wants to be a contributing member of society. “[This model] helps program participants build a resume, fuels the [meal site], and helps build our local economy,” said Miner. Applications for the Workforce Development Training Program are being accepted on a rolling basis.
The six-month training program allows participants the opportunity to work with professionals on site, visit restaurants, attend workshops, and connect with local restaurants upon completion of the course. While providing hot meals to individuals in need, program participants will learn food safety, cooking skills, portion control, teamwork, cleanliness and sanitation, and receive their food handler’s certification. Partnerships with Berkshire Community College and Goodwill will provide support that runs the gamut from ServSafe certification to mock interviews and professional attire. The kitchen will also provide a space for residents to learn cooking and nutrition skills that encourage long-term health and wellness. Additionally, it will act as a community hub, providing space for educational programming, cooking workshops, demonstrations, and food events — all of which aim to strengthen and build food security, which leads to a healthier and economically stronger neighborhood and community.
“I really want to break the stigma with this program,” said Miner of any preconceived ideas of who visits a soup kitchen. In her heart, she wants Bright Morningstar Kitchen to be a gathering spot where neighbors can enjoy a meal together. “It’s a place where everyone is equal, and all are welcome … nothing else matters,” she said of doing away, once and for all, with the idea that one has to fall into a certain classification or look a certain way to stop by. She hopes to attract workers on their lunch break, those new to the neighborhood, and people from other churches. “We want you to feel dignified, respected, and look forward to coming and eating with us.”
The Bright Morningstar Kitchen is located at 475 Tyler Street in Pittsfield. Guests will be seated by a host, and orders will be taken by servers. Each meal will include an appetizer, entree, beverage and dessert. Lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays; dinner will be served on Wednesdays from 4:30–5:30 p.m.
