Los Altos-area residents play vital role in non-profit's mission to feed needy

By Bruce Barton, Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos residents and Martha’s Kitchen volunteers Bert Newcomb, left, and Bill Boyrer, right, tour a newly renovated Martha’s Kitchen last week with Executive Director Edita Cruz.

Some Los Altos retirees spend much of their golden years on the golf course or engrossed in a good book. Still others give back, to keep themselves as productive as they were during their working years.

Count Bill Boyrer, Bert Newcomb and Mel Russi in the latter category. For years, these residents have committed themselves to feeding the needy by volunteering at Martha’s Kitchen in San Jose. Not only do they regularly deliver and serve in the kitchen, but Boyrer and Russi also sit on the board of directors of the non-profit organization. Boyrer, involved in the kitchen since 1985, is currently vice president of the board. Russi is president.

Involvement has come through a willingness to help and being in the right place at the right time. Boyrer heard about Martha’s Kitchen in the 1980s while working part time at a clothing store located next to a Safeway market near Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara.

“I saw them throwing all this day-old stuff away,” Boyrer said. That triggered his connecting the supermarket with Martha’s Kitchen.

The kitchen, started at Sacred Heart Church by Louise Benson in 1981, provides dinners to needy individuals and families twice a week, no questions asked. The only prerequisite is that “they need to be sober,” Boyrer said.

Martha’s Kitchen is fortified by approximately 150 volunteers and has just undergone a $2.3 million renovation of the kitchen facilities and parish hall.

The kitchen prepares and delivers food to 13 other non-profit agencies. In fact, approximately 75 percent of the food initially delivered to the kitchen goes elsewhere. More than 5,000 meals per month are sent to the hungry at the Emergency Housing Consortium, Santa Maria Urban Ministry, Community Homeless Alliance, Salvation Army and Holy Nativity School among the host of partnering non-profit agencies.

Decision to volunteer

Newcomb, Boyrer’s neighbor, got involved five years ago to assist Boyrer in his deliveries when Boyrer encountered health problems. Boyrer has since recovered for the most part, but Newcomb, a retired Silicon Valley engineer, continues to help.

“It’s just nice to have this activity and do something that’s beneficial for other people,” Newcomb said. “You keep hearing people talk about an opportunity to give back. This is an opportunity to do that.”

Russi, of Los Altos Hills, was familiar with Martha’s Kitchen while working as a physician in San Jose. Retired since 1999, he began volunteering for Martha’s Kitchen in 2000. He was elected to the board of directors in 2001.

“I simply wanted to give something back to society,” Russi said.

Russi continues to volunteer once a week helping out in the kitchen, in addition to his broad duties.

“We’re filling a void in San Jose,” he said. “People have come to rely heavily on us.”

As a server, performing such tasks as pouring soup into cups and getting trays of food ready, Russi comes into direct contact with diners down on their luck.

“It’s satisfying to be able to help,” he said.

Like Boyrer, Russi has recruited a neighbor, Gene Ravizza, to volunteer as well.

“There’s a lot of unfortunate people in this world,” said Ravizza, a Los Altos resident who started volunteering once a week after the kitchen’s reopening. Ravizza works in the serving line. “They treat these people with dignity. I would be happy to eat any of the (food) they put up,” Ravizza said.

There’s a strong sense of pride and optimism beaming from Boyrer and others at the kitchen who have seen the organization grow from 19,000 meals its first year to 100,000 meals annually. Boyrer and Newcomb wear their powder-blue Martha’s Kitchen sports shirts proudly as they make their food deliveries. Newcomb said 18-20 such “gleaners,” as they call themselves, pick up excess food at various partnering markets for delivery to the kitchen every day, usually before 8 a.m.

Boyrer himself delivers food twice a week from a Safeway store at Homestead Road and Kiely Boulevard in Santa Clara. He has logged 207,000 miles on his 1991 station wagon in large part because of his regular deliveries. He transports as much food as his vehicle can carry - day-old bread, pies, dented canned goods - to take down to Martha’s Kitchen.

There are grins and chuckles as Boyrer and Newcomb recall the sudden stop that flung lemon meringue pies forward to the front of the car in a creamy crash, or the left-open hatchback that resulted in food spilled all over the road.

Kitchen grows

Boyrer noted Martha’s Kitchen has come a long way from its beginnings.

“When I came on the board, they had very few businessmen. (Operations) was real hand-to-mouth. Then they got more and more professional people on the board.

Three years ago the board hired Executive Director Edita Cruz, whose organizational skills, honed in the high-tech world, played a vital role during the kitchen’s renovation.

Boyrer called Cruz “very positive and knowledgeable about grant writing. We’re very fortunate. She was only the second person we interviewed.”

Another turning point came in the late 1990s when Maribeth Benham of Saratoga came forward to offer financial help. Her grandson had volunteered at Martha’s Kitchen, and she was impressed. After expressing willingness to help, Benham was told, “Well, we could use some tables and chairs.”

She said, “How about over $1 million?”

“There was dead silence,” Boyrer recalled.

Benham’s contribution led directly to the renovation of Martha’s Kitchen. Organizers held a grand reopening in June. The renovation created an additional 3,000 square feet of space, including a walk-in freezer area and spacious, fully equipped kitchen. In addition, flooring and drywall work were provided for free by Martha’s Kitchen supporters.

Newcomb remarked the new walk-in freezer is as big as the entire old kitchen.

Organizers initially sought properties in San Jose to build a new kitchen. “(Residents) thought it was great, but not in my back yard,” Cruz said.

Frustrated by a lack of available sites, supporters went back to Sacred Heart and asked to expand the 50-year-old fellowship hall where they had been serving meals in the first place. Church officials and Martha’s Kitchen agreed on a 20-year lease and a commitment to renovate.

The dining hall, which can accommodate at least 350 people, includes round tables to allow families to eat together. Volunteers line up trays along the kitchen counters just prior to the 4 p.m. dinners. Diners simply pick up a tray and sit down.

Kitchen origins

The current success of Martha’s Kitchen (named for a biblical figure, Martha, who offered hot meals to Jesus and his band of followers on their frequent journeys through Bethany) ultimately can be traced to the kindness and action of one person, Benson. The San Jose resident had served the poor peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of her garage since the 1960s.

She and five friends started a soup and sandwich mission at Sacred Heart that gave Martha’s Kitchen its start. Kitchen organizers have dubbed Benson, who has since passed away, the “Mother Teresa of San Jose.”

The kitchen’s June 17 grand opening celebration paid tribute to Benson, along with Brother Joseph Nuuanu, who had run the organization before Cruz came on board.

Meanwhile, Los Altos volunteers Boyrer, Newcomb and Russi show no signs of ending their volunteering with Martha’s Kitchen any time soon.

“I enjoy it,” Boyrer said. “You meet very upbeat people.”

Like Boyrer himself.

Martha’s Kitchen is located at 311 Willow St., San Jose. For more information, call (408) 293-6111.