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SP: So, Kay, you've been feeding the homeless for seventeen years, basically. And you do this four days a week?

KA: Yes, Monday through Thursday, and I save Fridays because I want to save it for Art. He might, he might divorce me. [Laughs] "You love the homeless more than me." But anyway, I feel that I owe it to him because we have a place in Hood Canal, and he likes to go out there. So when we don't have any commitments on weekends, we try to drive out there. And he has a garden. He's a farmer at heart, I believe, although he was a city boy. So we have a garden there, and we have to weed. And it seems as though the weeds never stop. So we were there this week, too. That was last Friday, I think, we were there. It's been seventeen years, but I didn't take over until 1995, so it was a learning process for me during that time. I think the Lord was teaching me a lot of things in that interim, between 1991 and 1995. And it's just so amazing that I've never recruited a single helper, I've never solicited any funds, and God has sent all these wonderful, wonderful people, every denomination, nationality. And truly, at first, it was mainly Norman and myself and my family. But I remember the first time, the first fellow who came was when it was raining, we were outside, and so we moved into Kinomoto's garage, I think. [Laughs] I think they had given permission to use that, so we were in there. And this fellow came, and he said, "Is there any way I can help you?" And I had him pour the beverages. Walter, what's his name... he still keeps in touch with me, he lives in Everett now. But he used to get, what is it, those juice, expensive juice, Odwalla juice that expired or something, you know. And he used to bring that, he was able to pick that up. And he did that for quite a while. But I remember once when Odwalla caused the e-coli, made the newspaper, but thank God we were not affected, he had stopped by then. But I thought, "Oh, Lord, thank you that you protected us." Because if somebody had died or something, I would have just been, you know, ready to give up. But we have never once had anyone complain of even a stomachache. In fact, one guy came to me and he said, "I've got one complaint. Since eating here, I've put on a lot of weight." [Laughs] And we do fill their plates. And then they come for seconds if we have any left.

SP: So how many people are you feeding on a daily basis?

KA: Usually, well, the city wants a total number for each month, and we've been averaging on a monthly basis, over three thousand meals.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.