Finding compassion in community service

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Thursday, August 8th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Paul Butler.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Life change.

In a study conducted last year, food insecurity is worsening across America, and primarily in the Midwest. Community organizations and volunteers are trying to step in to help.

BUTLER: World Journalism Institute Young Professionals graduate Coltan Schiefer recently caught up with a former chef now serving at a soup kitchen.

AUDIO: [Sounds from kitchen]

COLTAN SCHIEFER: The biggest mistake of Tobin Simpson’s life turned into the biggest blessing. In 2011, the South Carolina resident had recently begun his career working in the kitchen of a fine-dining restaurant. The future was bright.

TOBIN SIMPSON: I was very competent at the time, and saw myself moving on to have opportunities to go to Chicago or to go to New York.

However, the pressure to come in early and stay late was constant. Much of the staff was engaging in substance abuse. The owners were taking long vacations when making the next payroll was still in question.

One night in 2011, it came to a head. Simpson walked out of the kitchen to see a drunk customer throwing a chair and threatening a female server. Simpson’s growing frustrations all came out.

SIMPSON: He made it outside before I got to him, and then when I was outside on the sidewalk, there was a cop across the street, and I pushed him. I never even, I never even hit him, but I did it. And when I pushed him, he fell down. He fell down the hard. And in that moment, I thought that he… I actually thought that he was dead.

Thankfully, the customer suffered no serious injuries, but Simpson was still in trouble. Because of his clean record before this incident, the court only mandated community service hours. He was given a list of options, and one in particular stuck out to him.

SIMPSON: So I was going to, you know, work my way through community service and pay to make it go away. And, you know, you're looking down there, and I saw a soup kitchen, and I'm like, I'll show them how to cook. And it was, man, it wasn't anything like that.

Simpson already loved to cook. His career path had been clear. But he quickly realized that he was also falling in love with something else. He loved people–particularly struggling people that were ready to turn their lives around.

SIMPSON: At that, the first day that I volunteered in the soup kitchen, volunteered, I just, I went home, and it was my—she was my girlfriend at the time—now, my my wife, and just I cried. I told her I was like, I've never seen love like this and compassion.

At the end of his community service, Simpson had no desire to return to the restaurant setting. Creating elaborate banquets for the wealthy now sounded uninspiring. Tobin Simpson realized that he had something more important–an organization and people that needed his help. He could help Project Host.

AUDIO: [People coming in the door]

Six days a week, Project Host offers hot meals to anyone that shows up. The Greenville, South Carolina-based nonprofit is in an area with great need. According to 2022 statistics from Feeding America, over 60,000 people in Greenville live in food insecure households. Data USA adds that 14% of the population was below the poverty line in the same year.

AUDIO: [People eating, talking]

Today’s meal consists of ham and bean soup, salmon patties, an orzo, spinach, and sun-dried tomato casserole along with bread and fresh fruit.

AUDIO: [Sounds from kitchen]

But Project Host is much more than just a soup kitchen. They have a six-week culinary school, host large community dinners, and run a food truck to events all over the city. They even have a garden that provides more than 2000 pounds of produce each year.

After Tobin Simpson volunteered in the soup kitchen for several months, he was asked to become the culinary school instructor. By 2020, Simpson climbed his way to CEO. Instead of trying to expand laterally, he focused on vertical growth.

SIMPSON: We have to stay in our lane. There are so many other nonprofits that address all the other barriers to employment. There's, there's not one that I've come across yet, that there's not a agency that's designed specifically for that barrier.

Now, in 2024, Project Host has three kitchens. One is for the soup kitchen. The other two are used for the Culinary School and internships. Over 200 people have finished the six-week program. After graduation, Project Host helps them find employment and over 90 percent of graduates have then landed jobs.

However, it’s not always easy. Students have been dismissed for violence or theft. Sometimes the students join for a week and then disappear.

MICHELLE LIGGETT: And we get it. Sometimes a job comes up. Transportation falls through, childcare falls through.

Michelle Liggett is the COO of Project Host.

LIGGETT: Yeah, and so all those applicants are we'll hold all the applications if they want to try again. Next time [the] doors open.

With the vertical growth focus, the organization has dramatically increased their meal distribution. In just 2023, they gave away well over 100,000 meals. So why do all this work? For Liggett, it’s clear.

LIGGETT: To take everything I've learned and all the skills I have, and apply it to something that gives back, is a really satisfying feeling.

Giving back to her community is important for Liggett, and it’s what leads to the best part of working at Project Host–watching someone that does change their life around. Tobin Simpson explains.

SIMPSON: Just all the work, all the days that you've had where you're like, I don't know if we're making a difference. I don't know if what we do makes sense. All that is gone in that moment, you're like, yes, even if it's for just one person, like, it's worthwhile.

Reporting for WORLD from South Carolina, I’m Coltan Schiefer.

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