Al Kirk likes the Easter dinner and likes the religious singing and message that came with it.
"It's comforting," says Kirk, smiling. He is among hundreds of people, mostly men, who were given free Easter dinners Sunday at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, 463 S. 400 West. (Another organization, the Salt Lake City Mission, was providing food at Pioneer Park.)
Kirk comes from the Seattle area but has lived in Salt Lake City for three years. It's not his first visit to the mission.
"I've been to this place quite a few times in my three-year journey," Kirk says, seated at a table with his plate. Where he lives is "just a temporary place," he adds.
The food is "pretty good. . . . It's an honest meal, no charge, so I really appreciate that they help a lot when people are going through their journeys in life."
Life is a journey, he adds, "and you should learn from your mistakes."
While in Salt Lake City he has been able to put away some money. "Your rents are much, much lower," he adds.
What about the gospel that comes with the dinner?
"Well, I was born into that," Kirk says. "My Mom was a Sunday School teacher, and my Dad was religious." Kirk didn't go along with it, but now, he says, "it's comforting.
"It give me a sense of upbringing, that's the way it was. . . . It kind of feels like home."
The Rescue Mission is housed in what looks like a big gray warehouse. This blustery afternoon, green sheets announcing the free meals are attached to nearby utility poles. A yellow sign on the building shows a white cross with white beams of light coming out of it, the word JESUS written horizontally on the cross and SAVES vertically, the central S in Jesus serving as the second word's top letter.
To enter the mission, you trudge up iron steps to the second floor, where a volunteer hands you a meal ticket. Then you plop your backpack at the rear of the chapel among many others and take a seat.
In front, five men and a woman — the band Saving Grace — are pounding out Christian rock with singing, guitars and drums. During a break in the music, one of the band members talks about beliefs. Eventually, you head downstairs for the meal.
The wooden stairs inside the building are worn in the center from the tread of many feet. On the lower floor, smiling cooks are ready with big pots of steaming food: sliced ham, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, treats.
Steve Trost, the mission's executive director, explains this is the first time the group has provided Easter dinners. "It's the most important Christian holiday. . . .
"While they're waiting to be served dinner, they're listening to three different Christian bands, all volunteers." The bands are from different churches in Salt Lake Valley, according to Trost.
Last Thanksgiving, the Rescue Mission served 1,000 people. On Easter, with 300 fed in the first 40 minutes, the same number seemed likely.
"The food is all donated," Trost says. "It comes from individual donors and civic groups, churches, and Utah Food Bank." The mission serves 87,000 meals a year, spending "not a dime" on food.
This is a non-denominational Christian mission. But people who drop in don't need to be Christian. "If they're a professing Muslim they can come in, enjoy the food, and hopefully be ministered to."
Besides men who spend the night, another 35 live there while going through a three-phase drug and alcohol recovery program, "which is also free."
The mission provides a chapel service, meals, shaving facilities and showers.
Why serve Easter dinner?
"To celebrate the risen Lord, to let people enjoy the day and enjoy the fact that the Lord lives — that we serve a Lord that is alive and well and loves us," Trost says.
Allen Martine who used to live in Wisconsin but now lives in Salt Lake City, has just picked up his plate and walked to a table. Asked what he thinks about it, he said he hasn't tasted it yet.
Not the food — what does he think about the Rescue Mission providing the service?
"I think it's nice," he says. He has a place to live on Redwood Road, but the water heater is broken.
"I work and everything," Martine explains. "But I come here, I need to have a shower."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com