Evolution of an Oasis

By Claudia Castorena, Co-Founder - Martha’s Village & Kitchen

Gloria Gomez, Father Joe, Claudia Castorena

  When I was asked to write the story of Martha’s Kitchen, I sat down and started thinking. Gloria and I have told and shared our story an infinite number of times, but it is seldom that I am asked to put our story on paper. Without a doubt, it is important to write down what Gloria and I have shared verbally so many times.

   Our story began in Mexico. Gloria Gomez was born in Nuevo León, México. In the mid-60s, she and her family immigrated to the United States and made their home in Indio, California. While attending school there, she worked in the fields beside her parents. Gloria was exposed to the poverty and hardships of the farm labor worker’s life. By the time she turned twelve, she was well aware of the struggles of the farm worker and felt she needed to do something about it. She decided she wanted to become a nun and help the young and the needy.

   “When I told my friends my plans of becoming a nun, they all laughed and made fun of me,” she said. “Helping people is something my grandfather and father always did. They believed that by helping their fellow man, they would never grow hungry,” she explained. Their acts of kindness impressed Gloria, and in keeping with her family’s belief, she decided to dedicate her life to help those in need.

   I was born in Torreón, México, but most of my life I lived in Mexicali, which borders with Calexico, California. Even though my stepfather worked every day, he and my mother struggled to support a family of six children. We came to the United States when I was 15 and lived nine months in Borrego Springs, California. Then, because of family conflicts, I went back to my hometown and my extended family to continue my education. I attended and graduated from an accounting school.

Martha's Kitchen in 1990's

   At 18, I returned to the U.S. to live with my parents and to find work. It was then I realized I needed to learn English. I attended adult ESL classes in Coachella and later the College of the Desert. I was also seeking my spiritual journey and, between school and work, I found time to be involved with my parish youth groups. It was through these groups that Gloria and I met.

   Attending the same job training center, we had a lot of time to share our dreams and goals. I was feeling the call very strongly to serve the Lord. I remember going to retreats and spending weekends with the nuns at their convent and really being moved spiritually. Although I wasn’t sure about becoming a nun because I felt I would have to move away from my family and community, I shared my calling with Gloria and my desires to serve the Lord completely and in any way He wanted me to.

   It was during this time that Gloria and I decided to devote our lives to God and respond to His call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless. We came to the realization that we wanted to start living together in community as nuns do, praying, working, and living for God. We finally made the decision to move to our “new house,” and on February 8, 1989, we started our community. We made a solemn vow to God to help those in need for as long as it was His will during a very simple private ceremony with our families and our spiritual director, Father Geraldo Mendoza of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Church in Indio.

   Around the same time we enrolled through AmeriCorps as VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteers for Catholic Charities. The program paid us a stipend of $400 per month. Many times we did not have enough money to pay our rent and expenses, but God always provided, and through the help of some of our friends, we were able to get by each day.

   Working for Catholic Charities made us realize that there was a lot of outreach to be done in Indio and its vicinity. On many occasions, the homeless people to whom we gave food told us “Thank you, but I cannot use the canned food you are giving me because I don’t even have a can opener to open the cans.” Others used to say, “Do you have any sandwiches or anything ready to eat?” Gloria came up with the idea of organizing a Christmas Feed since the holidays were arriving.

   I supported the idea and in December of 1989 with the help of our VISTA supervisor Elizabeth Hernandez, other VISTA volunteers, and our OLPH community, we held a Christmas Feed for the homeless and needy at Miles Park in Indio. Approximately 300 people showed up and we gave them a hot meal and clean clothing. The church choir sang Christmas carols and everybody had a great time. But as the homeless were leaving, some of them told us, “ Thank you for doing this for us, but we need this every day. All the churches do this on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we are here every day.”

   That day we realized that the hungry needed to eat every day, not just on holidays. After discussing our concerns with our pastors, Father Robert Clover and
Father Mendoza, Bennie Driskell, and Elizabeth Hernandez, we reached an agreement with OLPH to have a soup kitchen at the church’s hall in order to give hot meals to the needy and homeless people.

   On April 10, 1990, we opened the doors to Martha’s Kitchen for the first time. We prepared our first meals with food donations that OLPH parishioners had brought during Lent. That first day we served 30 people a hot meal, and we planned to do it one day a week. Very soon we opened two days a week, then three.

   During that time, one of the neighborhood churches gave us a large quantity of clothing to distribute to the needy that came to our soup kitchen. We started providing clothing and household items. Then the people started asking for other basic needs, such as medical care, assistance to pay for prescriptions, rent, utilities, transportation, etc. We responded to their needs as best as our capacity allowed.

   By the end of 1990, Martha’s Kitchen was providing hot lunches Monday through Friday, clothing, motel vouchers, medical and dental care, and rental assistance. We paid for medical prescriptions as well as canned food baskets for families. We were able to do this because soon after we opened our doors, other churches and a lot of people wanted to help. We received monetary donations, food donations and many volunteer hours from generous people.

   Our dream of helping the poor and needy has not only become a reality, it has gone far beyond our expectations. From the time we received the donation of land from Tom and Rita Martin in 1998 and the donation and commitment from Dan Dunlap for the building, every thing and every day has been a tremendous experience. The merging of Martha’s Kitchen and Father Joe’s Villages® has been a blessing to us, but more importantly, to our neighbors in need. This union enabled us to expand our services to a higher and different level.

   In December 2000, we moved into Martha’s Village & Kitchen, our new and beautiful two-story building where we provide a “Continuum of Care.” Anybody who comes here seeking assistance is helped whenever possible – from a shower, a hot meal, shelter or educational classes to a food basket and professional medical care – everything is free of charge. Our philosophy has always been to be compassionate and to respect the dignity of our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

   I cannot tell the story of Martha’s Village & Kitchen without speaking about our volunteers and donors. These good-hearted people have touched us with their generosity, commitment, dedication and involvement to make Martha’s an oasis in the desert. Many local churches of all denominations, clubs, foundations, and local stores, have collaborated to ensure its success.

   Since the beginning of Martha’s, Gloria and I have always believed that God would provide what is needed—from the early times, when we thought we would not have the money to continue to be open for the next month to the present days, where we don’t know if we will be able to succeed with an annual budget of three
million dollars!

   We recognize that we will face challenges as we continue to grow and develop. But, we also recognize that God was the first one to plant the seed of creating a place like Martha’s Village & Kitchen. Gloria and I may have been the initial instruments, but all our donors, volunteers, supporters and staff are making it possible.

   The story of Martha’s continues. I believe this is only the beginning. I know that Gloria and I will be telling and writing new chapters over the next two, five, and ten or more years. Until then, God bless us all. n