Chef Timothy Tucker - Program

The Salvation Army has been meeting human needs in Louisville since 1883, when we arrived here in covered wagons. The Center of Hope was founded in 1962 in downtown Louisville and has been serving the homeless and low-income population in this community continuously since that time. Mission

Our mission philosophy is based on two things – opportunity and accountability. We offer accessible, viable opportunities to help people end their cycles of poverty, and we hold people accountable for making progress in this direction.

We house 200 people every night and we feed 400 people every day. Our mission involves more than housing and feeding people – it involves healing people. We are not interested in managing the problem, we are interested in solving the problem.

Located at 831 South Brook Street in downtown Louisville, the Center of Hope provides these services:

• Emergency Shelter for men, women, and families
• Transitional Housing for single-parent families
• Community Kitchen and Feeding Program
• Child Development Center for homeless children
• After-School Programs for homeless children
• Emergency Assistance with utility bills, food, clothing, and household items
• Educational and Vocational Training

We serve free breakfast to the community each day from 7 am to 7:30 am and free dinner from 5 pm to 6:00 pm. We provide counseling services throughout each day, emergency material and financial assistance around the clock, daytime care for the children of the homeless parents, and offer educational programs during typical school hours. Our shelters open each day at 5 pm and residents exit at 7 am the following morning. We do not provide daytime shelter because we strongly believe that our residents should be working, job seeking, or performing some other productive task during the day. Residents without employment or employability are encouraged to enroll in our services.

The homeless we serve are 95% of our clients. The other 5% are housed, but live well below the Federal Poverty Index. We serve people from all Metro Louisville areas, all surrounding counties, and we frequently have clients from other states. In 2006, we provided 37,442 bed nights of shelter to 1,368 unduplicated men, women, and children. We served over 140,000 meals to hungry people. We housed 37 single-parent families in our transitional housing facility. We gave away nearly 2,000 food boxes, over $20,000 in utility assistance, helped 32 people earn a GED, gave away $60,000 in furniture, and nearly 18,000 articles of clothing.

Chef Timothy Tucker is our Kitchen Manager. Chef Tim graduated from Sullivan University in 1998 with a degree in Culinary Arts. Following his graduation, he spent time working in some of America’s finest restaurants – The Painted Table in Seattle and The Mansion at Turtle Creek in Dallas. He loved his work, but wanted it to be more meaningful. In 2004, Chef Tim accepted the challenge of managing the feeding programs at The Center of Hope. He has invigorated our feeding programs by bringing a very health-conscious approach to ingredients and cooking for the homeless. He understands that our diets affect all areas of our functionality and believes we can increase our clients’ functionality through their daily diet.

The Salvation Army garden at the Center of Hope provides nearly 1,500 pounds of produce to feed the homeless. Headed by master gardener Marty Sage, the organic gardens provide nearly 1,500 pounds of produce each year.

Chef Timothy was the guiding force in creating the Culinary Trianing Program. The Culinary Training Program was built upon the co-existing truths that we were feeding 400 people a day and many of them had no marketable job skills. We adopted a very literal approach to “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” What evolved was an intensive, 10-week training program that instills all of the basic culinary skill-base needed for work in the hospitality industry. Also included in the training are such things as self-marketing, resume development, workplace ethics, and effective communication.

The enrollment criterion is simple. Applicants must be homeless or living below the poverty line, must remain sober throughout the training, must participate in counseling to address other life issues that exist, and must have no competing demands on their time.

Upon graduation, students receive certificates of training, personalized chef coats, and job placement. In 2006, our first year of existence, we graduated 18 students. Sixteen graduates are currently working in the culinary field and are earning living wages. In 2007, we began our second year of operation and had 13 graduates. Ten students started the training cycle in May.

My name is Cooper, and I am 48 years old. Before I came to The Center of Hope I was living on the streets. Since being here my life is completely turned around. I graduate from the Culinary Training Program in a couple of weeks and I already have a good paying job in a restaurant. I am so grateful for the chance to live and prosper and better myself.

My name is Denice Carney. I am 42 years old and I have been homeless off and on for over 10 years. I have lived at The Center of Hope for the last few months and I hope to end my cycle of poverty. Chef Timothy has made a world of difference here. When you are homeless you are frequently exhausted. Your diet plays a big part in that. Chef Tim has the healthiest diet of any shelter I have ever seen. It helps me accomplish the day's tasks ahead of me.

Read about former student Rodney Moore: Rodney Moore