She stops to check the warmer, making sure everything is intact for the incoming rush. Five volunteers are prepping items for lunch, and more are clocking in by the minute. Today, they’ll serve a barbecue chicken sandwich, tomato cucumber salad and sweet potatoes.

“I always say that food needs to be as good as it looks,” said Brenda Mims, operations supervisor of Samaritan Center .

Her genuine love for each meal handed out goes back nearly three decades, when she was first introduced to the Samaritan Center by the Department of Social Services.

After a period of time receiving support to raise her five kids as a single parent, DSS told her to get back to work. They referred her to Bellevue Elementary School and the Samaritan Center.

“[I] got tired of working with kids that didn’t wan

See Full Page