Kent Zerangue – Food With Love

Discover Lafayette welcomes Kent Zerangue, the founder of Food With Love, “a heart centered ministry of Hospice of Acadiana” that he first began in July 2017 when he offered to cook for a former classmate whose son had been diagnosed with a brain bleed. Kent had retired in March of 2017 with plans to open a catering business, but he experienced an epiphany that overshadowed any need to make money. He shares in our interview how his parents were devout followers of Jesus Christ and consistently demonstrated love to their family, neighbors, and community through their actions in helping and praying for others. Kent’s culinary journey with Hospice of Acadiana was jumpstarted by a simple meal of shrimp and okra gumbo. When he was 18, a neighbor’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. The young woman loved the delicious shrimp and okra gumbo Kent’s mom would make, and he said, “I can still see my mom walking through the thick St. Augustine grass to bring Debra her shrimp and okra gumbo, and more importantly, to be present for a family in need.” Fast forward years later when Kent’s dad was in hospice care and a family friend came over with “shrimp and okra gumbo. The comfort that meal delivered was indescribable. This gumbo filled my stomach, but more importantly, this meal—this simple act of bringing food—placed unspeakable joy in my heart during a most difficult time.” Kent knew his retirement plans had to change. He decided to put aside notions of making a profit and begin cooking for families in need. Since then, Food with Love has grown dramatically in its outreach, mobilizing volunteers to prepare and deliver “delicious, comforting, home cooked meals to patients and their families,” providing nourishment, dignity, and what Kent describes as “a tangible that our community cares about.” Kent Zerangue assisted a longtime friend, Claire from his school days, when her 34-year old son was diagnosed with a brain bleed. He provided meals for the family while her son was in treatment in Houston. Kent shared that afterward, he began cooking for other families in need. By the end of his first year in cooking service, several other families were added to the food chain. When he saw Claire in person for the first time in 40 years she said “Kent, you are providing food with love!” Thus the name of the ministry was born. From One Family to 135 Families Kent began by cooking for one family, and within months, support and demand grew: “Over the first six months, we ended up with ten families.”His early recipients included “ALS patients… terminally ill, long term Parkinson’s.”“None of them were in hospice care. They just knew that I was cooking.” By February 2018, Kent approached Hospice of Acadiana to officially offer meals:“I kind of got my sea legs under me a little bit. And then they started giving me families.” By the end of 2018, he served about 60 families. Today, Food With Love serves about 135 families, preparing approximately 800 meals a week. The simple, profound message is “Jesus loves you. Jesus has always loved you. Jesus will never abandon you.“ The Move From His Backyard to a Commercial Kitchen For over 7 years, Kent cooked from his backyard commercial kitchen. Volunteers arrived naturally—“I had this lady call me one day…‘I’ve been watching you for about a year… Can I come volunteer?’ I didn’t even know I needed a volunteer.” Eventually he approached then-CEO Kacee Thompson of Hospice of Acadiana: “Do we want food with love to be something that continues for the long term? Her response was, “Absolutely.” She later called him saying, “Are you ready to start fundraising?” A space had become available on the side of Hospice of Acadiana, on the corner of Johnston and Christopher Street. Kent shared: “In less than 11 weeks, we had raised $1 million.” The kitchen is now fully paid for, USDA-approved, and equipped with the finest of equipment. On the day we recorded our podcast, Kent shared: “Today we cooked loaded baked potato soup. 40 gallons of it. And we will put it in individual meals tomorrow. We had 18 volunteers in the kitchen this morning helping cook bacon. We cooked 25 pounds of bacon and potatoes just to get the soup ready. We’re going to bag it, put it in bags, vacuum seal it, label it, freeze it. And then what a family does when they receive it, when they’re ready to eat it, put it in hot water, boil it for about five minutes and it’s ready to eat. Volunteer-Powered Ministry Food With Love has about 115 volunteers: “Half of those volunteers work in the kitchen.”“The other half, our delivery angels… visit, they pray with… They build this relationship with families.” Volunteers handle everything from chopping and baking to making ice cream. Kent emphasized the spiritual dimension: “No one thinks that they own it because it doesn’t belong to any of us. It’s his. It’s God...