Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 | 3:51 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
August 13-14, 2005
For information about volunteering for the International Church of Las Vegas' homeless meals program or to inquire about church banquets, call (702) 673-4758.
Chef Geno Ceccarelli's resume features some impressive resort names from Trump's Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to Treasure Island and Suncoast in Las Vegas.
A self-trained culinary artist, he took home impressive paychecks preparing gourmet meals and working for gaming giants including Donald Trump and Steve Wynn.
But Ceccarelli, 39, had a higher calling. Because of that, the homeless and working poor of Las Vegas are grateful -- and a little less hungry.
Last year Ceccarelli took what he characterizes as a two-thirds cut in pay to become executive chef of the International Church of Las Vegas, 8100 Westcliff Drive. (A chef with Ceccarelli's experience and background can earn between $60,000 and $100,000 annually, according to industry sources.)
As part of his duties, each Tuesday Ceccarelli spends about three hours preparing food that he packs into his 1968 Chevrolet pickup truck and takes to a secret downtown location to feed between 200 and 300 poor people.
Ceccarelli and church officials don't publicize the location because they want to keep a low profile. Ceccarelli said people who try to help the homeless sometimes feel as if there is a backlash against them.
He said that backlash is typified by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's reference to do-gooders such as Ceccarelli as "enablers."
Goodman said his point was that the acts by well-meaning, charitable organizations often are temporary solutions upon which the homeless become dependent and, in some cases, stop trying to pull themselves out of the depths of homelessness.
Ceccarelli, who at 6-foot-4 was a bouncer in New Jersey strip clubs before he found religion and took up the gentler art of gourmet cooking about 18 years ago, strongly disagrees.
"The term enabler makes it sound as if we are making the situation worse (for the homeless), but I don't see it that way," Ceccarelli said.
"I see it as doing what we can with our limited resources to help people get back on their feet -- to help feed and clothe them."
Michael DiMuccio, associate pastor of the church who oversees the compassionate ministry program that includes Ceccarelli's weekly feeding of the poor, says his church does not want to fight City Hall, but rather change the minds of critics such as Goodman with its sincere deeds.
"We want to support both the poor and our mayor," he said. "We will not win him (Goodman) over by criticizing his beliefs, but rather by showing him what we do with a compassionate heart."
With help from 15 church volunteers, Ceccarelli sets up his food service line on a street curb at 5 p.m. Clothing, shoes and even free jars of peanut butter and jelly are offered to the poor as well.
Recently, Ceccarelli and his volunteer staff fed a meal of beef and broccoli stir fry, cold fruit cobbler, bread and a beverage -- including seconds and thirds. They cleaned up the area and were gone in about 45 minutes.
"This is the best meal I get all week," said Chuck Slavin, 48, a landscaper who at the time he was interviewed was living at the Salvation Army homeless shelter. "There is great variety in the food he (Ceccarelli) serves."
Gordon Land, an unemployed furniture mover who at the time he was interviewed was living on the streets, has been eating Ceccarelli's Tuesday night meals for several months and echoes Slavin's sentiment.
"He (Ceccarelli) is just a great guy for what he does," Land said. "I especially like his spaghetti dinners."
Ceccarelli also has prepared pasta in an Alfredo sauce, baked ziti and sloppy Joes for his Tuesday night offerings.
"The food we serve is nutritious and flavorful," Ceccarelli said, noting the stir-fry dinner cost him about $1 a plate to produce. "I'm also a good steward of the church's money."
Ceccarelli personally purchases the ingredients that go into his bulk meals, noting he often determines his Tuesday night dishes based on what is available and affordable in the market at the time he goes shopping.
While the church and Ceccarelli choose to keep the feeding site a secret that is shared with just the area's needy, their project does not violate any city ordinances or health laws.
Las Vegas Business Services Manager Jim DiFiore said the church is not required to have a business license, nor is anyone who prepares food and serves it without charge to others.
Clark County Environmental Health Supervisor Mary Hahn says individuals and churches that do charitable deeds also are not required to get a health permit.
"Four years ago the Legislature added a compassionate care clause to the statutes to exempt them," she said. "(Without the clause) it would be a very difficult law to enforce, especially if someone is giving the food away."
The law was changed in the wake of a public outcry in Northern Nevada after the Carson City Health District ordered a woman who made free chicken soup for cancer patients to cease operations, Hahn said.
While licenses and permits are not at issue for such operations, there is still the question of liability -- someone getting sick after eating a meal and suing the good Samaritan.
"We have always put our faith in God," DiMuccio said. "If we do a compassionate act and are sued as a result of it, God will fight our battle."
Ceccarelli says he is there to lend God a hand on that matter.
"Nobody touches the food during preparation but me, and I know what to do regarding temperatures, bacteria and other health issues," he said. "I am very careful about the preparation."
Ceccarelli, who has lived in Las Vegas for 12 years and is married to Julie, a former Sands showgirl, became a professional cook somewhat by accident.
"While washing dishes at a restaurant in Hackensack, N.J., I was watching the chefs and said, 'I can do that,' " Ceccarelli said. "I told the manager he could pay me a dishwasher's wages for two weeks and I would do the cooking to prove myself."
A month later, Ceccarelli was the restaurant's chef.
While he has worked in some impressive kitchens, Ceccarelli says he is content and comfortable today working in the tiny kitchen at the church, which, as part of its modest compensation package, allows Chef Geno to run a small catering business on the side.
"We knew we couldn't come close to matching what the resorts were paying him, but we knew Geno had a heart for Christ," DiMuccio said. "He has the talent for cooking and for giving. That's why we offered him the job."
When not preparing meals for the homeless, Ceccarelli's other daily duties include cooking food for in-house church meetings, banquets, fund-raisers and private church functions.
But the days of Ceccarelli's serving the poor in secrecy on Las Vegas streets are numbered because the church is preparing its smaller satellite church called the Dream Center at 911 G St., in the heart of the homeless haunts, for that operation.
There, Ceccarelli will serve meals to the needy in conjunction with the church's regular services.
"I have no regrets I left the resort industry to do this," Ceccarelli said. "I feel I am making a difference in people's lives. I'll get my reward later."
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