At Hagar’s House, volunteers bring food, friendship for those in need

Hagar’s House resident Laila Carter, 9, who’s with Mount Zion AME Church volunteers Lonetta Johnson (left) and Rosalind Watkins, smiles just after leading grace before a recent dinner. Johnson and Watkins are among the Mount Zion AME Church volunteers serving this dinner to the folks living at Hagar’s House in Decatur, an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. Hagar’s House is part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry. CHRIS HUNT / SPECIAL

Hagar’s House resident Laila Carter, 9, who’s with Mount Zion AME Church volunteers Lonetta Johnson (left) and Rosalind Watkins, smiles just after leading grace before a recent dinner. Johnson and Watkins are among the Mount Zion AME Church volunteers serving this dinner to the folks living at Hagar’s House in Decatur, an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. Hagar’s House is part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry. CHRIS HUNT / SPECIAL

On a Thursday night in January, the Watkins family pulled up to Hagar’s House loaded down with food. Mom Rosalind, dad Emmett and son Adam carried in the makings of a taco and nacho dinner. Tortilla shells and tortilla chips, seasoned ground turkey, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, shredded cheese, pickled jalapenos — everything needed to provide dinner for 24 people, including a big container of quartered oranges for dessert.

The Watkinses are members of Mount Zion AME Church, and it was their night to provide the meal, part of the church’s weeklong commitment to serving dinner to the families at Decatur’s Hagar’s House.

Rosalind Watkins (left), a volunteer from Mount Zion AME Church, assists Laila Carter (center) with her plate full of tacos and peppers, while Laila’s mom, Ericka Carter, holds plates ready to serve the other children during dinnertime recently at Hagar’s House in Decatur. Hagar’s House, part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry, is an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. Every night, volunteers arrive at Hagar’s House loaded with dinner. CHRIS HUNT / SPECIAL

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Every night, 365 days a year, volunteers arrive at Hagar’s House loaded with dinner. They come from churches, synagogues and other organizations from across metro Atlanta to fill a very basic human need, to make sure the families at Hagar’s House don’t go to bed hungry.

Hagar's House (www.decaturcooperativeministry.org) is an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. Part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry, the shelter offers two meals a day, laundry facilities, employment services and housing assistance.

Volunteers from Mount Zion AME Church — (from left) Lonetta Johnson and wife and husband Rosalind and Emmett Watkins — help prepare a taco night dinner at Hagar’s House in Decatur recently. Hagar’s House, part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry, is an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. CHRIS HUNT / SPECIAL

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Volunteers arrive as the Watkinses did, meal hot and ready to set out buffet style. Rosalind Watkins laughed when she said she’d used a few shortcuts like preshredded lettuce and cheese, but she had spent the night before cooking the 10 pounds of ground turkey with McCormick’s Taco Seasoning, chopping all those tomatoes and quartering each orange.

Marlene White, executive director of Decatur Cooperative Ministry, explains that the residents have cereal, milk and juice for breakfast, all generally provided by donations, and these hot dinners supplied by a rotating group of volunteers, including churches, fraternities and Boy Scout troops.

Janet Hawkins, a parishioner at Columbia Presbyterian, is a regular dinner contributor. “There’s a hotline you call that tells you how many people are in the shelter and if there are any dietary restrictions. Since most of the people we’re feeding are kids, when I plan my menu, I think back to when my kids were young and what they liked to eat.”

Kailani Carter (left) and her sister Alicia Carter enjoy tacos at Hagar’s House in Decatur. Hagar’s House, part of Decatur Cooperative Ministry, is an emergency shelter providing up to 90 days of shelter and support for families with children. Every night, volunteers arrive at Hagar’s House loaded with dinner. CHRIS HUNT / SPECIAL

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A typical night will find the shelter filled with maybe eight or nine adults and lots of kids. Hagar’s House is unusual in that it can house large families often challenged to find a shelter where they can remain together.

“My sister and I might make a chicken-and-rice casserole or chicken tetrazzini and some side dishes like a squash casserole,” said Hawkins.

“I really feel like the women with those kids are trying so hard, trying to make a go of it. It makes me feel good to be able to provide a meal for them, something I would have made for my family.”

Rina Rosenberg of Congregation Bet Haverim has been coordinating the synagogue’s contribution to Hagar’s House for the past seven years. Their volunteers provide dinner on Christmas evening. Like the B’Nai B’rith’s “Pinch Hitters,” they “go to bat” for Christian volunteers, who can then spend the holiday with their families.

“I think our members are motivated to volunteer because we want to do what we can, especially to help the children at Hagar’s House. We are grateful for the work Decatur Cooperative Ministry does to help them get on their feet. Everyone knows what it’s like to be hungry. Not the way a person on the street knows hunger, but it’s something very concrete,” said Rosenberg.

The members of Columbia Presbyterian commit to providing dinner four days a month. Randy Dobbs tries to sign up each time. He likes to make meals like vegetable beef soup or maybe a chicken stew. “I always have homemade muffins and I always take ice cream sandwiches because the kids really like that.

“Every time I sit down and eat with the residents there, I realize these are normal people who made some simple bad decisions, or somebody made them for them. It happens more easily than I thought. For me, this is more than just putting a meal on the table. I enjoy cooking for them and I really enjoy sitting down and eating with them, hearing their stories,” said Dobbs.

He’s been surprised at how easy it is to engage in conversation. “I like hearing how they spend their days since they are required to leave the shelter in the morning and return at 5 p.m. I’ve been surprised from time to time to see how folks will open up to you pretty quickly.”

Dinner generally begins promptly at 6:30 p.m. The dinner bell sounds and someone says grace before the meal starts. The night the Watkinses served dinner, it was 9-year-old Laila Carter who said grace. She and her two sisters are staying at Hagar’s House with their mom and dad.

Lonetta Johnson, president of the Women’s Missionary Society at Mount Zion AME, has been coordinating the church’s contributions for the past eight years. One important part of coordinating the meals is making sure the meals don’t repeat. One night might be spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and pound cake. Another night might be baked chicken with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and a chocolate cake.

As she was helping the Watkinses set out their taco/nacho buffet, she explained, “We want to give them a nice dinner. We do it because we love it. It’s important to help others as much as you can. One day, you might need some help yourself.”

Pastor David Richards of Mount Zion AME Church sees the Hagar’s House ministry as a love offering for his congregants. “It’s the fellowship. Sitting with the children and watching how respectful they are and how they share, that’s uplifting. We understand when we’re in crisis, we all have to come together. ‘Love your brother as I have loved you. Love your sister as I have loved you.’ That’s what our Lord and Savior said.”

Dobbs shares the sense of personal satisfaction that seems to come to all who share meals with those at Hagar’s House. “It’s a way of putting your faith into practice. We have a responsibility to help those around us who are not as fortunate or may be in temporary need. Providing meals is a way to do that really well and without judgment. We just take the people where they are, feed them and minister to them in that way. It’s pretty powerful.”

White adds, “These donors … listen as they break bread with the families and they demonstrate there are people who care about the families during very difficult times in (their lives). The intangible benefit is counted in smiles across the table. It’s increased through the benefits experienced by tired parents who, while focused on how they will partner with the agency to end their homelessness, can count on not only the meal but smiling faces whose sole purpose in being in the shelter is to serve them.”