Jean Webster (cook) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Webster
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Webster in 2007, posing in front of a commemorative plaque erected in Atlantic City outside Sister Jean's Kitchen
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| Born | January 7, 1935 New York City, US
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| Died | January 10, 2011 (aged 76) |
| Known for | Providing hundreds of free meals daily at Sister Jean's Kitchen in Atlantic City |
Jean Webster (January 7, 1935 – January 10, 2011) was an American cook. She ran Sister Jean's Kitchen, a special place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that gave free meals to people in need. Jean started helping people from her own home in 1986. She cooked meals in her personal kitchen. Her kindness grew into a big operation. It eventually moved to the Victory First Presbyterian Deliverance Church. Food was available to anyone who came. At its busiest, Sister Jean's Kitchen served over 400 hot meals every day.
Jean Webster's Early Life and Career
Jean Webster was born in New York City in 1935. When she was about 4 or 5 years old, her family moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey. After finishing school, she went to culinary school to learn how to cook professionally. Even before she finished school, she worked to help her family. From a young age, she cooked at nursing homes to support her five sisters and three brothers.
At 18, she got a job washing dishes at the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel. There, she learned many cooking skills from a chef. Later in her life, Jean worked in casinos. These became a major source of jobs in Atlantic City after gambling became legal in the 1970s. She was one of the first black female sous-chefs (a chef who is second in command) to work in Atlantic City casinos. Jean Webster stopped working at the Trump Taj Mahal in 1991 because of heart problems.
Sister Jean's Kitchen: Helping Others
Jean Webster was inspired to feed people after meeting a homeless man in 1986. She bought him a meal and invited him to her home for dinner the next day. She felt it was her calling to help feed people. She let everyone know that she would feed anyone who came by. Soon, long lines of people formed outside her home as word spread.
In the beginning, she fed about 100 people two meals a day. She spent almost all her free time cooking, while still working at the Taj Mahal. At first, she used her own money for food. But as more people came, this became too expensive. She started getting money from local churches and casinos like the Taj Mahal. People began calling her "Sister Jean" because of her charity work. Some even called her the "Mother Teresa of Jersey."
Sister Jean's Kitchen welcomed everyone without rules, even allowing people to visit many times. This made it very helpful for people who needed it most, like those without homes. For Thanksgiving in 1992, she cooked for over 300 people. By 1994, she was cooking for up to 200 people a day from her home. Her kitchen was not built for such a large amount of cooking.
After a fire and news that her landlord was losing the property in 1995, she decided to move. In September 1997, the kitchen moved to Victory First Presbyterian Deliverance Church. Her old employer, the Taj Mahal, provided much of the kitchen equipment. At the church, the kitchen could serve many more people. She continued cooking with the help of volunteers, serving over 400 people daily. The kitchen also received donations of leftover food from local casinos. On holidays, even more people would come. In 2001, the kitchen served over 1,600 people on Thanksgiving.
Jean Webster did not like the term "soup kitchen" because it sounded too simple. Her kitchen served more than just soup. She wanted to focus on the community and spiritual side of her work. She called it a "house of happiness" or "mission" and called the people who came "guests." Some worried that the lines of people might not look good for Atlantic City's tourism area. But Jean defended her work, saying she insisted on good behavior from everyone in line.
In the late 2000s, Jean's health problems and age made it hard for her to continue working. Money problems, like casinos earning less and the Great Recession (a time when the economy was bad), also made it hard to fund the kitchen. Sister Jean's Kitchen had to let go of some staff in late 2008. Jean Webster passed away on January 10, 2011, at 76, due to heart and lung illness. She left behind her daughter, a grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.
Jean Webster's Lasting Legacy
Even after Jean Webster became too ill to work, Sister Jean's Kitchen kept going. Jean allowed a nonprofit group, the Friends of Jean Webster, to take over running the kitchen. This group continued the kitchen after her death.
The kitchen's move to Victory First Presbyterian Deliverance Church was meant to be temporary. Jean had planned to move to a new place as early as 2005, but it didn't happen. The church was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. This made finding a new location even more urgent. In 2017, the organization bought space at St. Monica's, an old Catholic church. They planned to fix up St. Monica's kitchen to be the new home for the soup kitchen. They hoped to get help from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), a group that uses casino taxes to improve Atlantic City.
However, these plans mostly fell apart. The St. Monica's building was not safe as it was. Fixing it would cost too much money, more than the CRDA was willing to give. The CRDA did pay back the Kitchen for some of the money they had already spent.
City inspectors said Victory First Church was still too damaged to host the soup kitchen. So, Sister Jean's Kitchen closed in February 2019. Other programs helping people in Atlantic City then had more people coming, which put a strain on their money.
In November 2020, the Friends of Jean Webster opened Sister Jean's Pantry. Instead of hot meals every day, which was hard to do because of money and the coronavirus pandemic, the Pantry gives out boxes of non-perishable food (food that doesn't spoil easily). It operates from St. Monica's. While St. Monica's isn't fully ready for a kitchen, it was approved for the simpler pantry use. The Friends of Jean Webster still hope to bring back the full soup kitchen when they can.
