“Capuchin Family Kitchen” Food Truck comes to San Francisco
By Mary Powers
The “Capuchin Family Kitchen” Food Truck made its debut on Palm Sunday weekend in San Francisco. Based in Los Angeles, the food truck visited the city to prepare for a San Francisco version based out of the National Shrine of St. Francis in North Beach.
Fr. Christopher Iwancio, OFM. Cap., who works at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles), said that he would help organize school service projects such as feeding the homeless, but the pandemic made it impossible to do this in person. Slowly, they began dropping off food to local homeless shelters to support them during the pandemic, but eventually came across the food truck model in Denver. Fr. Christopher and the Capuchins in Los Angeles raised the funds from local donors and the Padre Pio Foundation of America to buy a food truck to assist with outreach.
“It’s a great combination of friars, lay people, and students at St. Francis High School,” said Fr. Christopher.
When the Friars in the Bay Area saw the new vehicle for outreach in Los Angeles, they asked, “When do we get one?” While the Capuchin friars in the Bay Area have always been active in serving the homeless, there was a desire to do more based out of the National Shrine of St. Francis.
The April 1-2 tour helped to test and set the infrastructure for the new van, making a stop first at the National Shrine, and then visiting Our Lady of Angels in Burlingame.
The new van will help the friars distribute religious items as well as food, water, clothing, and other items. The van is currently being outfitted to fit the needs of the friars.
To help launch the project, St. Ignatius’ (SI’s) lacrosse team joined with the St. Francis lacrosse team to make more than 300 sandwiches, trail mix, and cards of encouragement, which the friars distributed to St. Vincent de Paul and St. Anthony Dining Centers on Saturday and along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
“The mission of our school is ‘be for and with others,’ so it’s important to get out and make sure that you’re with those on the margins helping them out rather than just saying it,” said Luke Sell, a senior lacrosse player from SI.
Sell said his work with the homeless through service projects (lacrosse team projects and required school service hours) has inspired him to hopefully continue this when he and his teammates go to college. He credits his education at SI and religious classes for inspiring them.
For more information on the upcoming food truck, visit: https://padrepio.com/capuchin-food-truck.
