City Rescue Mission To Begin Construction Of New ‘Kitchen Of Hope’

A place that has served millions of meals to homeless people in the metro will soon get a makeover.

The City Rescue Mission in downtown Oklahoma City is prepared for construction of a new kitchen named “The Kitchen of Hope.”

It was out with the old on Thursday. Soon, it will be in with the new. 

The agency has donated and auctioned off its old kitchen equipment to make room for the renovations.

“I just learned that it’s going to a church in Weatherford that serves the homeless, as well,” City Rescue Mission president and CEO Erin Goodin said.

Starting next week, the kitchen that has served more than seven million meals for two decades will undergo a massive transformation.

“It will be more of an open concept where you can see from wall-to-wall in the kitchen,” Goodin said. “And we will also have three serving lines where, right now, we only have one serving line. Our clients will have a choice on what they get to eat for their meals.”

The new, modern kitchen will also be a life-changing place for some.

“We’ve designed it to be a culinary experience for our clients,” Goodin said. “So they will learn culinary skills to take out and get employment.”

The upkeep of the 21-year-old kitchen was expensive. Goodin said it made more sense to start fresh but even that came with a price tag. 

Fundraising for "The Kitchen of Hope" started three years ago.

“It’s about $1.5 million and women’s T’s has raised a majority of that, along with major foundations throughout the state,” said Goodin.

The money will go to serve double the number of homeless people across the metro.

In the meantime, City Rescue Mission will continue to serve meals during the construction period. The food will be prepared off-site and brought back to be distributed.

Groundbreaking on the project will begin on Nov. 24. Construction is expected to be completed in March 2021.