Pearson: Former banker feeds the poor, dreams of more donors

Published November 11, 2006 at midnight

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John Love knows all about the currency of success.

Twenty years ago, that meant legal tender. As a vice president of First Federal Bank of Colorado, he helped match dreamers with money to fuel their dreams.

For the past 13 years, his currency of choice has been sustenance. As executive director of Capitol Hill Community Services, Love oversees a nonprofit program that serves 53,000 free hot meals to indigent people each year.

Experience has taught him that nothing can bankrupt the spirit like an empty belly.

"It's hard to think of solving homelessness in the same way that it's hard to think of solving poverty," he says.

"How do you stop people from being poor?"

The success of the CHCS program is evident on a recent October morning, as hundreds of people fill the dining hall of Trinity United Methodist Church at 18th Street and Broadway.

A line begins forming long before the doors open at 11:45 a.m. As people enter the building, they are required to write their name on a sheet of paper, and then are handed a steaming plate heaped with chicken, vegetables and a cookie for dessert.

They sit at one of three dozen cafeteria-style tables, punctuated every few feet by a plastic pitcher of Kool-Aid.

All told, there will be enough of the sweet beverage consumed this day to fill a child's swimming pool.

Love stands to one side, watching the activity. He nods imperceptibly to the faces he recognizes, while keeping his eye on the volunteers doing the serving.

On this day they are mother-daughter teams from the National Charity League. On other days, the food is served by middle school students from three of Denver's private schools.

Observing the lunch time activity - it is crowded but surprisingly orderly - one is reminded of the parable about Jesus and the loaves and fishes.

Capitol Hill Community Services operates on a budget of roughly $225,000 each year, with only three paid employees. The bulk of its labor is provided by more than 200 volunteers, and 82 percent of its food is donated.

Unlike many nonprofits, which strive to offer a myriad of services, CHCS has a single mission: Feed the poor.

"We focus only on this, and we do a pretty good job," says Love. "We're proud of the fact that we put most of the money (we raise) back into the program. We have an office that costs us $225 a month. We have one phone line and one computer and get our bookkeeping work done pro bono. There's one full-time and two part-time employees. Our secret is that we rely a lot on volunteers."

Love himself started as a volunteer back when he was still a banker. His introduction to Capitol Hill Community Services came through a program that his middle school daughter was involved in.

"Part of the program we like to talk about is that during the school year we have an ongoing relationship with three (private) schools. During the school year, their sixth- and seventh-graders come down to volunteer.

"One quarter of the class comes down every week to serve food and clean up and sweep the floor."

Love says that some 2,600 students volunteer each school year.

"Certainly our program here exposes an ever-growing group of kids to the problem of hunger in America," he explains. "It's not just about a one-time, feel-good holiday meal, but for a whole school year. All across America, I understand that high schools are implementing a community service requirement to graduate."

In his 13 years with the program, Love says he's occasionally seen a stagnation of need but never a decrease.

"The numbers we see are a function of the economy," he says. "There's a fairly direct correlation. Those with low-income jobs are the first ones to get knocked off the end of the table. But these people want to work."

What would the agency do with more money?

"I'd like to be able to offer a better choice of meal options," he says. "I'd like to be able to offer more meat, more tuna and more chicken. But our budget doesn't allow that.

"We could probably open up (a sixth) site if we had more money."

Capitol Hill Community Services

• Purpose: To feed the homeless

• Year Founded: 1984

• Services provided: 53,000 meals annually at five locations

• Number of staff: Three

• Number of volunteers: 200 at any given time

• Budget: $225,000

• Web site: www.homelessfood.org

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