Gamblers help themselves at Atlantic City soup kitchen

John Curran

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- There is such a thing as free lunch, it turns out.

Gamblers have found it across the street from Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, at a soup kitchen run by a former casino chef.

Bused here by casinos, up to 100 people a day -- most of them elderly Chinese from New York -- descend on the First Presbyterian Church, standing out amid the homeless and down-and-out diners the operation was created to serve.

"Isn't that awful? The nerve!" said Alice Martin, 76, of Ventnor, a soup kitchen donor. "This is for the destitute and the homeless, not gamblers. They come here all dolled up and get food from this woman, who is trying to help the needy."

The food pantry was established in 1986 by former chef Jean Webster, who saw a man rummaging through a trash can for food and decided to devote her life to helping his kind.

Initially, she fed up to 35 people out of her own home, but when the demand proved too much, she moved her culinary charity to the church on the Pacific Avenue casino strip.

Now she feeds three meals a day, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner to up to 600 people on weekdays. Her work has earned her the title "Sister Jean."

Webster, 67, whose operation is underwritten by the city, private donors, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and a handful of casinos, doesn't quiz anyone about their means when they walk through the door of the big stone church.

But about 18 months ago, she began seeing an influx of new faces.

"The casino bus picks them up in New York, brings them down and they get $15 back, but they don't get food vouchers so they come here," she said. "They shouldn't come if they don't need it, but I can't turn them back. God told me to feed them, he didn't say who to turn back and who to feed. This is what I do."

Others aren't as magnanimous.

"We've had local donors calling and saying 'We're not going to give if it's going to somebody from out of town,' " said the Rev. John Scotland, president of the Friends of Jean Webster Inc., board.

Whether the bus crowd is poor or just in the market for a free meal isn't always clear.

Some who gathered to eat lasagna, au gratin potatoes, chicken steaks and string beans recently were well-groomed and dressed in clean clothes, in stark contrast to other diners who were unkempt, smelly or both.

Scotland said the newcomers -- many of whom don't speak English -- may not understand the soup kitchen is supposed to be for the poor.

"There's obviously a language and a culture barrier, and they don't quite understand," Scotland said.

Indeed, several who were interviewed on their way into church for lunch did not speak English. Several, including Zhi San Liao, 70, of Brooklyn, pointed to the casino when asked where they had come from, or said "Chinatown."

"I can eat here?" he said.

He was let in.

"You have to ask how clear we're being as a culture, when we're doing gambling as a state-run operation," Scotland said. "You can't get something for nothing? That's not what our partners across the street are doing," he said, referring to the casinos, which advertise free cars and cash giveaways to lure gamblers.

The casinos also give away coupons redeemable for cash -- the amount varies -- to attract customers.

"Since they're invited here by the casinos, we want the casinos to help us take care of them," said the Rev. Robert Higgs, pastor of Victory First Presbyterian.

Casinos already give. Every day, the Food Bank delivers leftovers from Trump Taj Mahal to the church. On Fridays, Trump Marina, Trump Plaza and the Sands contribute leftovers.

Trump Taj Mahal officials did not respond to a request for comment on the gamblers' use of the soup kitchen.

But word of Webster's problems prompted some recent generosity from another gambling house. Tropicana Casino and Resort gave Webster a check for $5,000 during Thanksgiving week, and with it a promise to solicit new donations from the other 11 casinos.

In addition, the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has agreed to give Webster's food operation $100,000, but the money is to be used to help provide shelter to the homeless.

A grateful Webster wiped away tears after receiving the check from casino spokeswoman Maureen Siman. But she said she hopes all the casinos will begin pitching in.

In the meantime, she has no plans to begin screening her clientele to stop those with money from eating off her plate.

"It's not for me to question what's in your pocket," she said. "God knows. He'll iron it out."