Breakfast at Ragamuffin CaféRagamuffin Café

It's Sunday at 6 a.m. I'm parked at Sanctuary Church (1930 W. Colorado Ave.). A motorcycle pulls up alongside me - an older man in a biker jacket.

"I'm here for Ragamuffin Café. Do you know where it meets?" I ask.

A few minutes later, the man walks me to the alley gate behind the kitchen. There is a padlock on the door - we sit down and wait in the early morning silence.

"I'm Jon," I say.

"Cap," he replies.

Demetric "DJ" Davis soon arrives. Young, clean-shaven, possessing a firm handshake, he reassures Cap he'll be here to open in the future.

Davis leads Sanctuary Church's Ragamuffin Café, which has been part of the church's community outreach since it opened about a decade ago. It currently attracts around 200 people every week - and is open to anyone looking for a warm meal and company. Attendees include the unhoused, seniors from the community, and church members.

Today, it's French toast, oatmeal, sausage patties, hashbrowns, and day-old Panera bagels and pastries. A cake from Sugarplum Cake Shoppe rounds out the donations.

Before moving to Colorado, serving in the Army, working in IT, Davis grew up in the South and was an aspiring chef. He went to culinary school, trained in France, and worked with small, local farms to get the finest ingredients.

"You could taste the freshness," he says.

According to Davis, there's nothing like getting cussed out in a French kitchen.

Davis has dreams of returning to the food world as a farmer or on the culinary side. He grew up with his grandparents who farmed, and he has memories of eating off the local land and cooking.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. - Excerpt, Matthew 25:35

The Café is more than a return to the kitchen; it has allowed him to give back to his community.

Davis would love to get ingredients and foods from local farms and producers, connect with farmers, take whatever scraps and leftovers they have and let his creativity do the rest. He sees the realities of our food system, the waste and the unhealthy additives.

We talked about how local, fresh, sustainably grown produce can be harder to find, get to market, and fairly compensate. In our big box stores, processed foods are the cheapest, reflected in our levels of chronic disease. Our system prioritizes foods that last longer and aren't as nutritious. Our overdependence on industrial farming methods has created financial pressures on our agricultural community and damaged our environment. In our cities, we spend less time cooking meals, more time on screens, and have lost touch with the local and rural communities on which we depend. As our country has become a net importer of food, we have all suffered.

I've brought a couple of bags of mixed greens from the Colorado Farm and Art Market. Davis rinses them and tastes a few leaves.

"I'm going to freeze them and use them for some pot pies," he says excitedly.

What if I got him a 50 lb. bag of local potatoes for the hashbrowns? Would he have the manpower to get it done?

"I could do it myself," he says.

Over the next couple hours, DJ, Cap, and a crew of volunteers work together - on the outdoor grills in the alley, on the 20 lbs. of oatmeal on the stove, on setting up tables, chairs, and the clothing donation area in the gym, the same gym which warms many who can't or won't stay at the Rescue Mission during the coldest winter nights.

At 9 a.m., Davis puts me at the start of the line with firm instructions.

"You'll be on French toast, so you'll need to keep it moving. Otherwise, it'll back up the rest of the line. If I see you falling behind, I may come in and take over."

Yes, chef.

Before serving, we thank God for His presence, ask for his blessing and then commence.

Over the next hour, we serve this humble food. Plate after plate, I sandwich a square of butter between two toast slices, followed by syrup and whipped cream. Plate after plate, a sense of gratitude permeates this place.

One hundred and ninety plates later, it is finished, no leftovers, all without incurring the ire of head chef.

Ragamuffin Café is greater than community service or systemic issues in our food system. It is an invitation to be a part of the solution.

If you would like to contribute or donate fresh produce, meat or other foods to the ongoing efforts of Ragamuffin Café, contact Office@TheSanctuaryWestside.org.