PORTLAND, Oregon — In the heart of the Kenton neighborhood on the corner of North Denver and Kilpatrick sits Po'Shines. The cozy corner restaurant has been in business for 25 years.
"Po'Shines is Cafe de la Soul. It's the southern cuisine of comfort food, which is nominally called soul food," said pastor E.D. Mondaine, owner of Po'Shines.
For 25 years, the community of Kenton would frequent the small cafe. That changed in mid-March. Mondaine knew in an instant he had to help the same community that had supported him for so many years, especially his senior customers.
"There's a group of 10-16 of them that have frequented Po'Shines for over 20 years. They come in and they have coffee after they swim. They bring their own pastries, because they own the place when they come in and I don't mind," Mondaine said, "We started to be concerned about them and others. We started feeding those meals to the elderly free in the evening time."
Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4-6 p.m., anyone over the age of 65 can get a free meal. Since mid-March, Po'Shines has given out 4,000 meals to seniors.
"It just kinda fell together. We have some of those seniors that have volunteered to come and take food to the places where it needs to go."
For 25 years, it has been a fixture of the Kenton neighborhood.
When restaurants were ordered to do take out or delivery only, Po'Shines laid off 6 workers. Mondaine says they have been able to hire 4 of them back. He says the community has been very supportive.
"The community's been good to us in terms of continuing to come and get carryout."