In roughly one month's time, the sisters of Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen will pack up their pots and pans and say goodbye to the Tenderloin.
In February, the Chronicle reported that a dramatic rent increase would soon force the nuns from their kitchen at 54 Turk St., where Sister Mary of the Angels and Sister Mary Benedicte fed the homeless—and slept—over the past eight years. Soon after, multimillionaire self-help guru Tony Robbins brokered a deal with their landlord to keep them in place through the end of the year. He also pledged to help them find a more permanent solution.
That solution, it turns out, was dropping $750,000 to buy them their very own kitchen, the Chron now reports. The new location is at 1930 Mission St., just steps from the 16th St. BART station and the city's first Navigation Center for the homeless, and Robbins will kick in an extra $50,000 to outfit it with new equipment.
The Turk Street kitchen is expected to close and reopen in the Mission by the end of April. But since the nuns won't be able to live in the new space, they'll continue to reside in the Tenderloin until Robbins can help them find a new residence. He's also planning to help them bolster their French pastry-making operation, which they currently sell at farmers markets to pay for their work.
