Budapest’s Alföldi Temporary Shelter is not a traditional homeless shelter, as it’s more like a residential institution that resembles a dormitory with its multi-bed rooms and shared kitchens. They provide shelter for about 220-250 people in need, in exchange for a symbolic fee of pledging to a six-month-long stay, which can be extended, but cannot be prolonged for over two years. The 260 portions served here were cooked at the kitchen of KIOSK; the worn tables were decorated with tableware, and the walls were lit with warm candlelight. The staff of the restaurant achieved all of this with the money that the KIOSK management would have spent on Christmas gifts for corporate partners and friends.
At around 5pm it looked like there would be more volunteers than diners, but the residents of the shelter slowly gathered at the temporary “restaurants” that were formed on the three levels of the building. The chosen menu – meatloaf served with onion-flavored mashed potatoes and apple pie – was tried earlier at Klauzál Square, where every week KIOSK and other restaurants hand out food for homeless people living on the streets; the meals there are made with the help of the money from donors of the Heti Betevő Egyesület foundation. It would be very hard to provide a dinner like this one at the shelter for those who live on the streets, as it’s impossible to reach out to the people outside of the institutional system.
Although the dinner was only for the residents of the shelter, a few curious people from the streets were invited to join at around 6pm, when second helpings started being served. The chefs and organizers then packed everything into a white minibus, and went to the shelter of Aszódi Street in District IX, where the second act of the evening took place – here they provided dinner for another 250 people in need.
Guests enjoy special attention at a restaurant, and besides the comfort of a set table, dignified treatment can bring the greatest joy for those who have no roof over their heads. After asking a middle-aged man if he liked the meal, he was so moved that he started to cry, and inquired about the identity of the organizers. His life went off course after a tram accident; he tried to break out of homelessness three times, and has been living in the shelter since April.
The night was quite upsetting for those who had no experience in charitable food distribution, and there’s a chance they spent the whole evening running around with plates while they had a lump in their throats. The staff of KIOSK, led by owner Hubert Hlatky-Schlichter, was much more experienced, because in addition to the regular food-distributing events at Klauzál Square, they have been organizing similar actions since 2014: two years ago they hosted a dinner for residents of the Dankó Street shelter, they served 100 Hungarian nurses in their Március 15. Square restaurant in June of 2015, and then on December 4th, together with Food Angels Hungary, they are provided brunch for institutionalized children at KIOSK.
