Homeless People Learn to Feed Others as Chefs

August 26, 2009, USA TODAY — Chef Cecil Morris Jr., 46, of Mobile, Ala., knows what it's like to be on both sides of the soup kitchen line.

He was homeless and addicted to drugs and alcohol in 1992 when he entered the local Salvation Army's adult rehab center.

After a year in the program, Morris asked the chef in charge of the kitchen to teach him how to cook. That chef gave him the skills he uses today as the culinary arts director at the Salvation Army in his community, which serves more than 400 meals daily.