Grace Marketplace fed Gainesville’s homeless out of a crockpot and a barbecue grill five years ago. On Monday, in its kitchen cafe, the shelter served its 500,000th meal.
About 200 people attended the nonprofit shelter’s milestone celebration dinner, at 3055 NE 28th Drive, said Grace Director Jon DeCarmine. Meatloaf was provided by Bread of the Mighty Food Bank and the Florida Fresh Meat Company.
Grace Marketplace started in 2014 and served its first 70,000 meals without a kitchen, DeCarmine said. In November 2015, it introduced a new kitchen called Cafe 131. Before the kitchen cafe, the shelter relied on church groups to cook meals and to bring them to Grace Marketplace to be served.
“It made something as simple as sharing dinner with people basically a six- or eight- or 12-hour process for these groups,” DeCarmine said.
In the past five years, Grace has served 12,000 people, DeCarmine said. The organization provides about 400 meals a day and has 114 beds for emergency shelter, 14 of which are reserved for veterans.
Jong Kim, a 55-year-old volunteer chef at Grace Marketplace, said he started cooking meals for the homeless three years ago. Every Tuesday, he cooks for an hour and then does “God’s work” for another hour.
Kim said an example of “God’s work” for him is when he prayed for a man at Grace Marketplace who attempted to commit suicide. The next day, all of the man’s fears and worries were gone.
“God chose me to help all these people,” Kim said. “People are being saved through healing.”
One of the attendees, 46-year-old Charles Gillyard, became homeless in 2016 after a crash in Lake City, Florida, he said.
Gillyard was supposed to use a wheelchair for 18 months but started walking after three, he said. He now has six screws in his left foot and is unable to work as a result.
He said Grace Marketplace helped him find housing and a warm meal, but he is currently homeless again.
“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be on my feet now,” Gillyard said.
While Grace continues to serve hot meals, DeCarmine said the next goal for the shelter is to expand permanent housing on its properties.
He said the shelter has moved nearly 700 people into permanent housing, which has reduced homelessness in Alachua County by 36 percent since 2014.
“All of the meals in the world don’t matter if they don’t ultimately help get a person off of the street,” DeCarmine said. “So we measure all of our impact in terms of our success in ending homelessness for people.”
Attendees wait in line for meals outside Cafe 131 at Grace Marketplace on Monday evening. The non-profit assistance shelter celebrated serving its half millionth meal.
