Former High End Chef Now Feeds Homeless

(CBS)  Elegant place setting are not out of place for Chef Tim Hammack. For a while he worked at Bouchon, famous for fine food in the Napa Valley, CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

"He could be at a top notch restaurant in New York or San Francisco," said kitchen trainee Mike Starr. "But, he's here."

"Here" in a homeless shelter. He's now a chef in a soup kitchen with a difference.

Bay Area Rescue
Tim's company: Bohemian Elegence Catering

As a full time employee at the Bay Area Rescue Missionin Richmond, Calif., Chef Tim's paycheck is about half of what it was in a top end restaurant.

"I was frustrated with where I was, and you know - serving people that were extremely wealthy. They seemingly didn't have a care in the world," Hammack said.

Those who end up homeless in Richmond have seldom experienced the finer things in life. Chef Tim is trying to change that - one meal at a time.

He serves up to 1,200 meals a day from whatever is donated.

"We never really know from day to day what we're going to get," Hammack said. "So it's kind of like triage at a hospital - we separate the good, the bad, the ugly and make do with what we got."

To submit an idea for The American Spirit send us an e-mail: [e-mail]

He also makes do with some unusual kitchen helpers. Chef Tim teaches cooking as part of a drug recovery program.

He thinks that he can change people's lives through food.

The diners here admit this isn't the food they're used to. But they do keep coming back for more.

Fewer than one in three of those who train through the kitchen completes the recovery program. But those who make it are the reason Chef Tim has taken the heat in this kitchen for eight years.

"I felt like I was making a difference in the world," Hammack said. "So that's why I stayed."

He's cooking up hope, and serving it fresh to those who need it most.

[John_272]

Bravo! http://hudincomeexclusions.wordpress.com/food/

[bearjoint]

Many people donate food, toys and money at the holidays and then go back to their privledged lives. This man does his best to make the lives of less fortunate people better every single day of his life. He could live richer and probably easier, but he realizes that what he is doing is more important, and he takes his reward in the lives that he touches. There are many ways to be rich, and Chef Tim is rich in compassion, empathy and in all the ways that matter. May God bless him richly in all the ways that matter; compassion, health, true and abiding love, friends, family and the knowledge that what he is doing matters.

[bearjoint]

Many people donate food, toys and money at the holidays and then go back to their privledged lives. This man does his best to make the lives of less fortunate people better every single day of his life. He could live richer and probably easier, but he realizes that what he is doing is more important, and he takes his reward in the lives that he touches. There are many ways to be rich, and Chef Tim is rich in compassion, empathy and in all the ways that matter. May God bless him richly in all the ways that matter; compassion, health, true and abiding love, friends, family and the knowledge that what he is doing matters.

[eyes_on_cbs]

I hated news long time ago .. it was like punch of events that 'cus me headache , but cbs news is beyond news it self ... it's more about life and poeple ..

[end32]

This is pretty amazing, I saw this on tv, just a few seconds ago and I signed up, immediately; who would've.. it's the story thought over. It's good to see that people try to make the difference, especially in the lives of the less-fortunate. Maybe, in the coming times, we will see more of those who are the true American spirits, or the flesh of the democracy (at it's finest). On the top of what's at hand though, I will donate in any reasonable ways I can to make it a more 'heart-felt' and hunger full-filling holiday for those who lack the means and ends to make their own Thanksgiving, Chanukah, and Christmas days more compassionate, loving and full of hope. God bless.

bTW I actually watch more ch. 9 news..