‘Where dignity is the main course.’ Poverello House in Fresno opens cafe for those in need
A long-time provider of homeless services in Fresno opened a new cafe Wednesday in what organizers said they hope will give people one of life’s simple pleasures — a restaurant dining experience.
Papa Mike’s Cafe opened inside the Poverello House on Wednesday offering a menu of five to seven choices daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, according to staffers.
Fernando Escajeda, 57, said he’d chosen the Papa Mike’s Burger, one of the options for lunch alongside chicken tenders, a pastrami panini and other meals. He said being able to order from a restaurant menu was an uncommon treat for him.
”I like it. They’re helping the homeless a lot,” he said. “It’s great to get out of the streets.”
Originally from El Paso, Texas, he was about 17 when he followed his mom to California. He’d been living on the street for the past three years in Fresno, but recently got help for housing.
”I finally got my own apartment. It was a great feeling,” he said.
The Poverello House has long been known for helping those experiencing homelessness or needing a helping hand. The new cafe is open to anyone.
Papa Mike’s is named after Mike McGarvin, who started the Poverello House by handing out peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches in 1973 before he opened up a location about a year later.
The nonprofit now serves about 3,000 meals a day and feeds folks 365 days a year.
Poverello House CEO Zach Darrah said “Where dignity is the main course” is the cafe’s motto.
“Our mission is the belief in the dignity of every person,” he said. “If that is true — that every person has value worth and dignity, that they are brothers and sisters, that we are much the same in our value — we want people to feel that when they come through our doors to have a meal.”
Darrah said the Poverello House recently completed a new kitchen with $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding that came to the nonprofit through the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. He also said corporate donations aided the upgrades.
McGarvin died on July 1, 2017, at 73. His widow, Mary McGarvin, said Wednesday the cafe was a fitting legacy for her husband.
“It’s really great. I know he’d be so happy,” she said with a laugh. “He always did like going to a restaurant.”
McGarvin converted to Catholicism when he lived in San Francisco before coming to Fresno, and often attributed his beliefs for the reason for his good works, according to Fresno Bee archives. He volunteered in the Bay Area to help the homeless and used his experience there to develop the Poverello House in Fresno.
