There was a time when Prince Appleberry didn’t know from where his next meal would come. Homeless and hungry, the Chattanooga native often found himself in the Chattanooga Community Kitchen’s dining room, alongside the many people who benefit from the meals served there each week.
Now, as sous chef at the Community Kitchen, he feeds the hundreds who find themselves bereft of such basic needs – the things so many of us take for granted, like a hot meal.
Appleberry found his way to the Community Kitchen nine years ago when a friend told him about Community Kitchen’s Victory in Progress, a program at its Homeless Healthcare Center, an outpatient alcohol- and drug-abuse program.
“Being a part of that is how I got my first job at the Community Kitchen,” Appleberry says. “I started in dishwasher maintenance and learned about cooking as I was trained by the staff. Then I was promoted to cook, then kitchen manager, and now I am the sous chef.”
Working to feed the homeless puts him in a position to give back, he says.