KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A hot meal and warm place to rest are that much more important as Kansas City, Missouri, continues in the single digits.
People like Shera McClelland see the worst of it.
"I work at a hospital, and me and my son were talking — there's literally people freezing to death," McClelland said.
McClelland and her son were talking about it on the way to Big Belly's Italian-American Kitchen on Tuesday.
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"I told him on the way here, 'I was so warm driving,' and I was like, 'I don’t know that guilty is the word, but it’s just a realization,'" she said. "I'm warm and have everything I need. There are people who can't get a coat or shoes."
Big Belly's is surrounded by people who need that.
"I know there's a homeless camp not far from here. A family in Johnson County may be down on their luck, dad might've lost their job, any spectrum," said Josh Drake, owner of Big Belly's Italian-American Kitchen.
Ken Viereck has been the chef and manager at Big Belly's Kitchen since they opened.
"I just had a family in the other day who wanted to pay, but didn't have enough to feed the entire family," Viereck said.
The restaurant's owners know, in general, the people who need to sit at their tables.
"There's a lot of broken tables in this restaurant that shimmy and shake, and you don't know until you sit there, and there's a lot of broken people out there, and you don't know until you sit with them," Drake said.
That's why anyone who needs a hot meal or a warm place to sit for a while just has to tell the server they want a seat at "the broken table."
They can pay what they can, or have a free meal at any table in the restaurant with no questions asked.
"There was a time I had just lost my job and had $200 to my name. I was freaking out as a single parent," Drake said. "We got food from a food pantry; I was fortunate enough to get a job quickly after that, so I was never all the way at the bottom, but we were $200 away from being there."
You never know by just looking at someone what they've had on their plate.
"I lost two of my kids in the last five years, so we have a very broken table," McClelland said. "There's a deep meaning to that. We know about grief and pain."
When you come through Big Belly's doors, your table might be broken, but when you leave, you'll have a seat at one of theirs.
"The stories that you do hear, it makes you want to continue doing what you’re doing," Drake said. "It makes you not question why you’re doing it or can you afford to keep doing it — you know you just have to find a way."
Big Belly's started the broken table when they opened over a year ago. They've fed nearly 100 people in need.
When you tell them you want a seat at the broken table, that doesn't mean you have to sit in a specific spot and they won't disclose your situation to anyone.
The restaurant has a house account that funds these meals and they are accepting donations. You can also contribute in the restaurant.
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