Saint Mary’s Catholic Church: Helping Memphis’ Needy.

A man in a long coat is in the parking lot of St. Mary's
Catholic Church yelling obscenities and babbling
incoherently . Ron Bezon's warm and friendly face
greeting guests becomes a stern expression, the kind
you would expect from a street fighter rather than a
servant of the people. "Watch your language, Sir." Still
glaring at the man he gives him another order, "You're
gonna have to leave if you don't watch your language,"
the man calms down. The look of compassion returns
to Bezon's face. "People on the street are mentally ill. If
they are not when they hit the street they will be."

This Saturday morning is another in a long string of
days of compassion at St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Since the 1870's, it has been providing food for the
needy almost without interruption. From the yellow fever
outbreak to hurricane Katrina- and almost all points
in-between- those whose lives have been turned
upside down have had a place to eat at Memphis'
oldest continually operating soup kitchen. For the last
four of those years Bezon has been the soup kitchen
manager.

"Work here is a labor of love," Bezon said. He arrives at
5:30 am from his home on Mud Island and about 6:30
am a water cooler is out front so visitors have water for
there medications, at 7:30 there are granola bars and
cookies then from 9 to 10 is soup and sandwiches. "I
was a production advisor for General Motors and I got
up at 4 am and said some day I want to do the Lord's
work. I can get up early in the morning and do that,"
Bezon said. He leaves around 11 am.

Today the Gates family is helping in the kitchen.
Granville and Susan, along with their two children Julia,
14 and Granville, 11 live in East Memphis and come to
downtown for church and they volunteer about once
every seven weeks. "They get up early and get here at
7:15. They love coming down here. That's the only time
my son like getting up," Susan Gates says. "It's the
volunteers that make it work," according to Bezon. Food
is donated or purchased at a steep discount from the
foodbank. Churches, businesses, organizations,
hunters, schools and nursing homes have all helped in
getting the food and getting it ready. "Some of the ladies
making these sandwiches are 99 years old and we
have children as young as 3 making sandwiches," he
said.

"A February a few years ago we had minus 17 degrees
with the windchill factor and we have 165 lined up for a
bowl of soup and sandwich. You know you are serving
a need." Bezon says. He knows some people are not
desperate but just want free food. "If only one person
out of the165 who show up each day really needs it
then it is worth the effort." The Catechism of the Church
says "If we can afford to give to the poor and we can
give this service and give their daily bread then we are
obliged to do it, he says.

Bezon himself has had needs met from the church. The
Ohio native first encountered the church when he came
down with his youngest son as a patient at St. Jude in
1986. The two moved here in 2001. Today his son still
has health problems and still takes treatment at St.
Jude but is well enough to help out at the soup kitchen.
"My son is doing really well considering all he has been
through," Bezon said.

When it comes to homelessness downtown, he has
heard opposition from people who believe feeding
them brings in the wrong element to a downtown trying
to attract business and home owners. He tries to stay a
good neighbor to the homeless and the residents.
"They know I'll close it down in a minute if there is a
fight or anything. We let them know the routine, the
structure and discipline and administer it with a lot of
love and it works really well," he said. He lets visitors
know that this is their place and some take it to heart.
During this reporters visit, several of the guests to clean
the picnic tables after eating. Only once in his four years
has he needed police assistance. "We've had one guy
who pulled a knife on me one time," he remembers.

Other memories are much better. A man came to the
kitchen telling him he didn't want food because he
recently was offered a $17 an hour job in another city.
He told the kitchen workers thank you for getting him on
his feet after a difficult time. "We had a volunteer Dianne
that used to come and she would have bible studies
with them and a lot of them are very well versed in the
bible One winter morning she saw a lady dancing to the
praise songs and she said 'you dance very well' and
the woman said 'Oh, I am dancing to keep my feet
warm. I don't have any socks' and Dianne, without
hesitation, took of her warm sweat socks. And the lady
when she came up to eat said 'that lady showed me the
face of Jesus this morning.' Those kind of things make
it worthwhile to work in this ministry," Bezon said.


As for outside of work, he and his son tend to eat out
rather than cook at home. He takes pride in what he
cooks. "We guarantee our soup," he says. "If you don't
like the soup you can come back tomorrow and get a
free bowl. A volunteer suggested adding mayonnaise to
the soup, Susan Gates remembers. "I said 'Ron's soup
is the best, please don't touch it!"

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