Jesus House Breaks Ground On Kitchen Expansion

Jesus House will soon be getting some new digs. They broke ground Wednesday on a roughly $1.7 million expansion to their kitchen.

"It's just been a long time waiting. We'll have this facility mostly paid for by the time we're done, and I feel that's biblical," said John Suter, Jesus House Chairman of the Board.

Once they're done moving dirt, it's going to mean a lot more meals at Jesus House. The expansion is going to increase their feeding capacity from 35 to 200 people.

"It's not standing in line to get a container of food which then becomes trash on the streets of Oklahoma City, but they can come in, they can eat, we can talk to them, we can share Christ," said Jared Frazier, Jesus House president and CEO.

That's what makes this expansion so special, it feeds both body and soul.

Now that people will be able to stay and eat, that increased human interaction will allow Jesus House to better carry out the other part of their mission, a residential addiction-recovery program.

"My staff and our other clients who are going through our life transformation program, they're able to talk to them, tell them, ‘Hey, I was in your situation, I was homeless just like you,’" said Frazier.

The kitchen expansion is just the first of four phases of upgrading the 83-year-old building and property.

Future projects include new dorms and a multipurpose building.

"We know where we're going, we know where we want it to ultimately be, and we know the impact that's going to have on everyone, really. That will just be tremendous," said Frazier.

Jesus House hopes to be cooking in their new kitchen by Thanksgiving.