“Whatever comes through that door I got to manage to cook,” said 49-year-old Francisco Ortiz as he looked over a pork loin and roast.
“Once I pull this part, I can make tacos,” he explained while examining the roast.
Ortiz is the new Food Service Manager at the Allentown Rescue Mission. He oversees food donations and kitchen staff, and is the cook.
“This is going to go to homeless guys in the shelter and in the program upstairs,” he said.
It’s a spot Ortiz knows well. After Judy, his wife of 24 years, died of cancer in 2017, Ortiz lost his will to live, and ended up on the streets and at the mission.