‘Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living’
Dorothy Day Center Marks First Year 

By Monica Knudsen
For The Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Dorothy Day Center is a dream realized. In one year, more than 11,000 people, including 6,786 adults and 4,453 children, have benefited from the all-volunteer food assistance ministry sponsored by St. Charles Borromeo parish.  

Behind each of these statistics is a life and a story — single mothers and fathers, the elderly, chronically ill or injured, unemployed, Hurricane Katrina evacuees and many others; some in emergency situations, others needing ongoing aid. For these people, help with groceries can mean not having to skip a meal, or forego basic necessities, such as medicines.    

Dedicated and blessed by Archbishop Beltran on Nov. 6, 2005, the Dorothy Day Center is in a 2,000-square-foot brick building on State Street, east of the church. It is a storage and distribution facility that makes it possible to accept more donated foods and to procure fresh and non-perishable products at far below-market prices.  

Each month the center has provided groceries for an average of 900 people, including almost 400 children. With donations and products from the Regional Food Bank, a  family can be supplied with nourishing meals for as little as $1.50 per person.  

Those who receive help are referred by the St. Charles parish office, the St. Vincent dePaul Society, Catholic Worker House and the Oklahoma First Church of the Nazarene.                       

The Dorothy Day Center would be just an empty building without more than 100 volunteers from all walks of life and faiths. Some of them meet one Saturday a month to drive and deliver groceries to approximately 200 households.  Others, who give of time and talents, stock shelves, donate food, keep records, take daily temperature readings of the walk-in refrigerator and freezer, sweep and mop the floor and unload trucks.   These people live out Dorothy Day’s simple yet powerful philosophy, doing small things with great love and faith.

The center was named for Dorothy Day (1897-1980), journalist, social activist and founder of the Catholic Worker movement, who consecrated her life to serving the poor.

The idea for the building was born four years ago when a group of St. Charles parishioners saw a need.  Requests for emergency assistance kept increasing, but donations couldn’t keep up with demand.  

The Regional Food Bank could be an inexpensive source for more food, but the parish needed a climate-controlled storage facility to qualify —“definitely something more than a closet,” said Marcus Evans, who serves as director.   

Evans says a crucifix on the wall and a framed pencil sketch of Dorothy Day may be symbols of a Catholic building, but gifts of money, time and talent came from all over Oklahoma City and as far away as California —from people who were frequent volunteers to those only casually acquainted with the project but were nonetheless impressed. Once construction began in July 2005, the building was built and paid for in less than one year.

Recently a group of volunteers observed the first anniversary quietly, with a Mass in the Dorothy Day Center celebrated by Father Joseph Irwin, and a potluck supper.  

Father Irwin commented on what the ministry has done for the church and the city. “The benefits overall are wonderful, not only in numbers served — almost quadrupled in a year — but also a lot of people have been able to donate money for food ... and so many have claimed the Dorothy Day Center as their own and found ways to give of themselves that  they haven’t done before. It is a tremendous witness to the Gospel message and what we are called to do as Catholic people.”

Looking back at the progress of one year, Evans addressed the gathering, and noted, “We think this place is for them (the recipients), but it’s really for us, too.”

He said the Dorothy Day Center serves a dual purpose: to feed the hungry, and in the words of Peter Maurine, Dorothy Day’s associate, “to make it easier for people to be good.”

Despite the successes, it is the dream of every volunteer that the Dorothy Day Center will someday close for lack of business. Until that day, when hunger is no more, all are invited to reflect on Psalm 27:13, “I believe that I shall see the good-ness of the Lord in the land of the living.”