‘Hope Kitchen’ aims to provide opportunities for homeless job seekers in Medford

An array of stainless steel appliances, a toaster that cooks 200 slices in an hour and a walk-in refrigerator fill the kitchen at the Kelly Shelter in Medford.

Since March, it’s been the training ground for a new eight-week internship program, called Hope Kitchen, meant to help homeless residents get more job skills and develop work history.

The Kelly Shelter is run by Southern Oregon homeless services provider Rogue Retreat, and Hope Kitchen is open to people in its programs. The goal of the internship is to be one solution to the barriers homeless people often face when trying to find employment.

“Some of them may not have worked in a while. They might be out of state, and they’ve been here for a little while, and they haven’t had any work history here,” said Jana Stanley, Rogue Retreat’s social enterprises manager. “How do we help create that job history so they can put that on a resume? That’s through the kitchen.”

After eight weeks, interns will have their food handlers card, ServSafe certification and slip-resistant shoes to make it easier for them to be employed at restaurants in the community.

The kitchen serves nearly 400 meals per day to homeless people in the Rogue Valley. Kitchen Manager Robert Nash said he starts his interns with the shelter’s training modules and time and temperature logs before throwing them in right where other restaurants would: the dish station.

“First thing’s first in the kitchen is cleanliness, sanitation, time and temps and teamwork and communication,” Nash said.

Interns are selected through an interview process. Stanley said they’re held to professional standards and work 40 hours a week. The positions are unpaid, but Hope Kitchen has received some grants. They also collaborate with WorkSource in Medford to help residents with resumes and interview skills, and are currently developing a boxed lunch catering program.

Hope Kitchen’s Assistant Manager Jeffrey Hunt said he saw significant growth in the program’s first class of interns.

“This just gives them a chance to have some purpose, to gain some knowledge, some life skills they didn’t have, some connections, even make friends within the community they didn’t have before,” he said.

Having previously been homeless himself, Hunt said he appreciates the opportunity that Hope Kitchen gives residents, something he didn’t have in the past.

“Just getting to give back to the community to help is really rewarding for me,” he said.

Hope Kitchen recently concluded its first session. The second is set to begin on May 21. Two of the three graduates of the first session are already employed — one at Outback Steakhouse and one, Robert Renfro, at Hope Kitchen itself.

Renfro had been living in his car in Medford with his wife when Rogue Retreat offered them a bed at the Kelly Shelter and told them about the internship.

“We both [were] like, ‘Okay, this is an opportunity. Let’s take it, let’s jump on it,’” he said. “Instead of saying no, we’re ‘yes’ people now.”

“We’re so excited because it’s given his family a new lease on life,” Stanley said. “He is fantastic in the kitchen. He just jumped right in, and he’s not afraid to learn. He’s not afraid to work hard.”

Renfro is now a full-time kitchen assistant at the Kelly Shelter. He said the internship gave him an opportunity to show what he’s capable of after not working for some time.

“The opportunity with the internship gave me a lot more confidence. I didn’t have that confidence when I first came in here,” he said. “It’s been a good ride for me. Just [to] prove to myself, my family, just everything that I kind of gave up on. This really just brought everything back for me. [I’m] doing pretty good now.”