Meal program volunteers serve complementary meals and respect to appreciative recipients

Hannah Kallis makes a difference.

The 72-year-old Sumner resident has been feeding the area’s hungry for 14 years as meal coordinator for Puyallup-based St. Francis Community, a nonprofit agency that provides free dinners at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the Puyallup Armory.

It’s a volunteer position she takes seriously.

“It’s nice – it’s really from your heart,” she said of being able to volunteer.

An active member of St. Andrew’s Church in Sumner, Kallis believes in putting her Catholic faith in action by reaching out to people in all areas of life – whether they’re homeless, jobless or simply struggling to make ends meet.

“I have a few people coming – young men – who lost their jobs,” she said. “A lot of people live in their car. And some don’t have a car. I have to let them feel like somebody – it’s the way I was raised. Some people say, ‘how can you hug them, Hannah? They’re dirty.’ But I tell them that I love the people and respect them. They are equal. I don’t care what people look like. That doesn’t impress me.”

Coordinating the meals takes organization and strong networking among area churches and businesses. Her daily routine includes two morning trips to a grocery store and a large warehouse for donations. She stores the commodities inside two freezers on her porch.

Kallis doesn’t plan menus. Instead, she leaves the food of choice up to each participating organization. The only two requirements: that each dinner include a main course, salad, vegetable, fruit, milk and juice for approximately 60 people; and hot food must arrive hot.

“If I don’t like the food, I don’t serve it,” she said. “I do the same here as I would if they were eating in my home. I don’t like cold food. It never happens.”

She takes pride in the program and in those served.

“I know everyone here,” she said. “I watch for the new people and make sure they feel welcome.”

That same respect carries over to her volunteers.

“I love them and I praise them,” she said. “They cook meals at home – steak, chicken, roast beef – they eat better here than I eat!” Kallis chuckled.

Volunteers from Sumner Presbyterian’s women’s prayer group served up homemade beef stroganoff April 7. With enough prepared for seconds – volunteers make sure no one goes away hungry – a few of the dinner guests took home leftovers in plastic containers pulled from their backpacks.

Melinda Hyde said her church has been helping out for more than 10 years and appreciated how Kallis makes everyone feel needed.

“I think what she does is wonderful,” Hyde said. “We have one recipient who said this is the only meal they get all day because they have to save the money they make from their job to pay for their mortgage.”

Kallis and her volunteers were preparing last week to serve more than 200 guests for the program’s Easter dinner – complete with music and dancing, Easter baskets, an egg hunt and pony rides.

Her commitment to help others hasn’t gone unnoticed. She received the Melvin Jones Fellowship for Outstanding Humanitarian Service Award from the Puyallup Lions in May 2007. She was also featured in the Catholic Northwest Progress, a publication of the Seattle Archdiocese.

Kallis said she knows she’s where she’s supposed to be.

“I don’t have children,” she said. “I think God planned this for me a long time ago.”

For information on additional hours and locations for the meal program, to volunteer or to donate, call 253-848-3618 or go online at www.stfrancishouse.net.

Reach Judy Halone at jhalone@courierherald.com or 360-802-8210.