Meet the people cooking thousands of free meals for Durham’s hungriest residents
By Casey Toth and
Charlie Innis
Katina Parker’s efforts to feed Durham’s hungriest residents has shown little sign of slowing down.
Since the pandemic began last year, her volunteer squad has chopped hundreds of cabbages and smoked countless chickens. They pack hearty meals into foil containers and distribute their offerings across the Bull City by the thousands.
Aluminum trays filled with chicken and vegetables await final assembly on the final day of the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers together every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
Feed Durham prepared their 10,000th meal in December and finished their seventh cookout in March. The collective has raised over $100,000 through GoFundMe, and they plan to raise even more to expand the operation’s reach, Parker said.
Eradicating food insecurity
“As we have grown and more people, more resources have come our way, it’s become obvious that the cooking is wonderful — it brings hope to us and it brings hope to other people. We’ll continue doing that,” Parker said. “But if we really want to eradicate food insecurity in Durham, there’s a networking of resources that needs to happen.”
Abigail Porter cooks cabbage on second day of the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers together every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
To that end, Feed Durham is installing garden beds for families in need and offering food demos to educate young people on cooking produce.
“Some of our work is going to be educating folks on how to cook produce in a way that is culturally relevant to them and maintains the nutrient value,” she said.
Fresh asparagus receives a dusting of spices on the final day of a the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers together every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
The group has distributed meals to the Community Health Coalition, Urban Ministries, Durham Rescue Mission, Raleigh Rescue Mission, and the South Wilmington Street Center.
From left, Kirsten Blackburn, Virgina Wertman, and Grayson Harvey, help load a trunk full of food on the final day of the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers together every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
“We also work with an individual who works at a homeless shelter,” she said. “He came by every day and picked up 30 individual meals and took them to unhoused people on the streets.”
Allen Jones, left, of Change Path Ministries, closes the door on boxes of food loaded by volunteer Elizabeth Godown, right, on the final day of the five-day cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers together every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
Hope and family
Now that it has been over a year since the pandemic started and Feed Durham began its mission, Parker said the experience has made her more nurturing and patient.
Katina Parker builds a fire in a smoker early in the morning on the second day of the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers to her front yard every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
“People, everybody has a gift, and everybody has their areas for opportunity of improvement. And when working with a volunteer family this large, I see the greatest of people and also see the places where they’re insecure, where they’re scared,” she said. “Or they, you know, they need to be validated in a certain way. And I noticed that, and I have learned how to work with that.”
“I am inherently introverted, grew up painfully shy. And you know, I’ve had to grow a lot, in order to do the things that my ancestors asked me to do, require me to do,” she added.
Running Feed Durham and working with volunteers has also given her a lot of hope.
Molly McCambridge, left, and Katina Parker season turkey meat together on the second day of the five-day no-contact cookout known as Feed Durham that began as a response to the increase of food insecurity at the start of coronavirus pandemic, bringing dozens of volunteers to ParkerÕs front yard every six to eight weeks to cook well-seasoned and nutrient-dense meals for people in need, on Wednesday, Mar. 3, 2021, in Durham, N.C. Casey Toth ctoth@newsobserver.com
“More than anything, one year later, I’ve gained a family that I didn’t have before,” Parker said. “And it’s made me more deeply rooted.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 8:27 AM.
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Casey Toth is a visual journalist on staff at the News & Observer and Herald-Sun. She works with a talented team of visual journalists to document the daily news and stories in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill while also balancing long-form documentary-style video storytelling across the state. Her long-form work focuses on health and environmental issues, from childhood cancer to sustainable agriculture and more. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017 with a degree in photojournalism.
