The Samaritan Center serves up Central New York

SYRACUSE — The Samaritan Center dishes out hot meals and service with a smile to its Central New York guests in need.

On a typical day, at 3:15 p.m., guests are already lined up outside the Samaritan Center, a soup kitchen in downtown Syracuse, for the afternoon meal even though the doors don’t open for another 30 minutes. They wait patiently, chatting with fellow guests to pass the time. When the doors open, respectful of each other, they move in, forming a single-file line around the basement of St. Paul’s Church, waiting for their turn to be served. By the look on their faces, it’s clear to see how much these people appreciate not only the meal they receive, but also the friendly hello and smile from the volunteers and Samaritan staff.

The nonprofit Samaritan Center welcomes everybody in for a meal. “We don’t ask any questions. If you’re hungry, we’ll give you a meal,” says Lori Lichorobiec, the development director for the Samaritan Center. The staff members may not ask questions about a guest’s situation, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t know their guests. Some guests may only ever stop in once, but the staff sees several guests on a daily basis. About 30 percent of the guests rely on the Samaritan Center almost every day of the week, according to the center’s most recent Guest Needs Assessment. The chef even provides menu alternatives because he knows that some of the regulars have food allergies or simply don’t like a particular kind of food. For instance, on Fridays year-round, the kitchen serves fish, but also offers chicken for those who can’t (or won’t) eat fish.

While people have many reasons for visiting the dining hall at the Samaritan Center, the most common variable among guests is poverty. Among the guests, 21 percent have no income at all, while 26 percent only have the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food-stamp benefits. Twenty percent of the visitors stay in shelters, but only 10 percent are truly homeless. Many of the guests are working poor, says Lichorobiec. In fact, 23 percent are employed and more than one-third of them have some form of degree, a professional license, a 2-or 4-year degree, or a master’s degree. 

With the local and national economic crisis, the number of guests that frequent the soup kitchen has grown consistently over the past few years. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, the Samaritan Center served 104,000 meals to roughly 89,000 people. At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, the soup kitchen served 90,676 meals to 69,084 individuals — a 29 percent increase in the number of individuals served in three years. 

On any given day, roughly 300 guests come through the meal line at the soup kitchen (typically, 100 people at the morning meal and 200 for the afternoon meal). “No one leaves here hungry,” says Lichorobiec. In the soup kitchen’s 30 years of operating, it has never run out of food to serve at any meal. The entrée may change three or four times, but we always have enough food, says Mary Beth Frey, executive director at the Samaritan Center. 

The majority of the food served comes from the Food Bank or the staff purchases it from Sysco, a food distribution company. Local restaurants also donate food. Moving forward, the center also hopes to establish an agreement with local farmers for fresh produce donations. “We would never serve anything we wouldn’t eat ourselves,” says Frey.

The Samaritan Center says that 88 percent of its operating budget goes towards putting food on the plate. For 2012, the organization’s operating budget is $550,000. The 2011 budget was about $505,000. Fundraising initiatives, such as its Annual Appeal, Samaritan Awards Dinner, and Soup Bowl Open Golf Tournament, account for more than half of the budgeted revenue (57 percent). Other revenue sources include restricted and unrestricted contributions, grants, and contributed goods.

The Samaritan Center began in 1981 by serving sandwiches from the first floor door at St. Paul’s Church at 310 Montgomery Street. In 1986, the organization moved to the basement of the church, which it currently rents, although at a generous discount from the church, says Frey. The center also occupies an additional 500 feet of office space on the third floor. It pays the cost of its utilities to operate and provides its own maintenance and upkeep. 

The 4,500-square-foot basement is a tight squeeze for the number of guests the Samaritan Center sees, plus the volunteers and staff. This year, the organization is assessing its facility and space to accommodate the growth in number of guests. “You would hope we wouldn’t have need for that, but we do,” says Lichorobiec. 

Frey commends the contributions of the community and the center’s board of directors for their support of the Samaritan Center. “It has been possible for us to operate for over 30 years because of [the church’s] generosity and the generosity of the entire Central New York community,” says Frey. She says that she’s never worked at a place where the board is as involved as it is. The board has a 90 percent attendance rate at meetings, and 100 percent participation in Annual Appeal giving among the board and staff.  

Frey has been executive director of the Samaritan Center for six and a half years. Prior to this, she was the vice president of community impact at the United Way of Central New York. 

The Samaritan Center, which formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 1994, employs six full-time staff members and one part time. It also utilizes an average of 800 volunteers per month.       

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The Samaritan Center

 

310 Montgomery St.

Syracuse, NY 13202

Phone: (315) 472-0650 

www.thesamaritancenter.com

 

Key Staff

Mary Beth Frey, Executive Director

Executive-Director Compensation:  $65,000

Lori Lichorobiec, Development Director

Dan Wade, Operations Manager

Brenda Mims, Asst. Operations Manager

Maryanne Grady, Office Manager

Julie Gilbert, Case Manager

Sara Gardner, Jesuit Volunteer & Volunteer Coordinator

 

Board of Directors (Officers)

President

James R. Miller, Jr., Dalpos Architects

Treasurer

Michelle Burnett, DeIorio’s Bakery

Secretary

Donnie Richman, Fager & Amsler, LLP

 

Board Members

James Abott, Retired businessman

David J. Arrington, Niagara Mohawk Retiree

Reverend Hal Avery, Episcopal Priest

Peter Derrenbacker, Northwestern Mutual

Paul Haberek, UBS Financial

Mary Hastings, Retired teacher

Julie Johnson, Retired health professional

Lonnie Johnson, Syracuse Firefighter

Very Rev. G. Thomas, Luck St. Paul’s Cathedral

Matthew Lumia, JC Jones

Lisa Matto, Immaculate Conception Church

Mark Rossi, Empire Technical

Ellen Wilson, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield                                                                                                                                      

Catherine Wolff, Syracuse Opera

 

Recent Organizational Highlights:

• Served 105,000 meals in 2011 

• Hired a full-time case manager to address issues affecting the need to access emergency food services

• Hired Lori Lichorobiec as Development Director

• Formal establishment of Sandwich program in 2011 with almost 10,000 sandwiches distributed in the last six months of 2011 through the efforts of Le Moyne College students, community organizations, and businesses

• More than 800 community members a month representing businesses, faith and civic organizations, youth groups, individuals, and families volunteered time 

• 55 human-service agency visits on site in six months representing 828 individuals assisted in accessing supports and services through collaborative efforts and partnerships

• Goals achieved in each of four fundraising initiatives: Annual Appeal, Samaritan Awards Dinner, Beach, Blues and BBQ, and Soup Bowl Open Golf Tournament

• Three-year grant received from United Way of Central New York through its Community Investment Process

• Selection by Gifford Foundation to participate in 3-year ADVANS Initiative to assess and support organizational capacity

 

Planning/Fundraising Outlook for 2012:

• Undergoing facilities assessment and space exploration to accommodate growth in program services

• Continued growth of case-management supports and partnerships to enhance guest self-sufficiency

• Local economic stress necessitates continued growth in fundraising efforts 

• To be honored by the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse in May 2012 for community work.

• Honoring Le Moyne College with special tribute to Father Gregg LeStrange at May’s Samaritan Awards Dinner

• Jed and Barbara Delmonico named honorary chairs for August’s Beach, Blues and BBQ in Skaneateles

 

 

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