Cafe Central serves public servants

Published 1:45 pm Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Aside from chef Jim Humphries’ fried chicken, which many contend is the best in Milledgeville, Tuesday’s meal attracted a slightly different crowd than Humphries normally serves at local soup kitchen, Café Central. 

In addition to the several hundred people that gather for the cafe’s free meals each week, Tuesday’s meal featured more than 40 first responders from the Milledgeville and Baldwin area sharing a meal with the community they serve. A few days before, cafe staff put out a special invitation to all area first responders to enjoy lunch at no cost to them, in the first of what the soup kitchen plans to make into a monthly event.

“We actually have a new board member, Bruce Vaughn, and Bruce mentioned that he had [fed first responders] before in some capacity,” said Ann Bowen, Cafe Central’s founder and director. “The minute he said it, I thought, ‘Why haven’t we been doing that?’ It’s such a simple thing for us to do and invite them. … We’re going to do it once a month, but if they want to come every Tuesday that’s fine — we’re happy to have them.”

Although cafe staff are used to seeing Freedom Church’s full-size gymnasium filled nearly to the brim during lunchtime, Tuesday’s meal garnered an even larger crowd than usual. As police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel co-mingled with some of the cafe’s regular visitors, many expressed gratitude that the cafe would include them in their meal.

“I’m not sure how she got it, but our secretary sent a text message to everybody at the post saying that [Cafe Central] was having a lunch for us today,” said Trooper 1st Class Patrick Prosser of Georgia State Patrol Post 33 in Milledgeville. “It was very nice of them to do, and a very good meal.”

In furnishing food for public servants on top of their normal Tuesday crowd, soup kitchen staff were adamant that first responders had more than earned their meal through their service to the community. Although Cafe Central is in near-constant need of money and volunteers, the kitchen’s chef said he would be happy to serve those who put themselves in harm’s way for as long as he has the resources to do so.

“My grandfather retired after 30 years with the fire department, I have an uncle that spent 25 years as a police officer in Connecticut, I’ve got several other uncles that have worked in volunteer fire departments, and a good friend of mine joined the police force in Columbus, so it’s something I’m very familiar with,” said Humphries during his first real rest of the day. “They do a job a lot of people aren’t willing to do, and they put up with a lot of stuff that normal people would never put up with, so it’s the least we can do to give them something to eat.”

Although no small amount of food is needed to feed 40 first responders, cafe staff actually received an unexpected return on their investment. After counting the money in Tuesday’s donation jar, Bowen said the combination of first responders and extra people there for Humphries’ fried chicken had pushed an amount that normally hovers around $30 to $40 to more than $100. Although the cafe was short of the number of volunteers needed to serve Tuesday’s meal, she hopes to spread word about next month’s first responder lunches to any public servants that were unaware.

Although only a handful of Baldwin County’s hundreds of first responders were on hand Tuesday, among those in attendance were members of Milledgeville’s Air Evac Life Team. Equipped with a state-of the art helicopter that helps them transport patients faster than one can on the ground, pilot Scott Carden, nurse Britta Thomason and medic Andrew Strickland arrived for lunch with a crowd of people gathered around. Mindful of the fact that his vehicle was a natural center of attention, Strickland hoped that people would appreciate the sacrifice of all first responders, regardless of their mode of transportation.

“I think it’s a good thing. We’re all on the same team, and whatever we can do to help draw attention to law enforcement, EMS personnel, and people like that, [we’ll do],” he said. “Whoever’s frying that chicken knows what’s up, too.”

Cafe Central serves lunch to needy local residents every 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday. Donations are collected at the door every Tuesday or by mail at Cafe Central, 500 Underwood Road, Milledgeville, Ga., 31061. To volunteer, email Doug Shelton at shelton_doug@yahoo.com.