By Phil Haslanger
Collaboration Project Story Team

Dave Heide, the owner and executive chef at Liliana’s restaurant in Fitchburg, is not what you would describe as much of a churchy person. And yet he has found that folks from area congregations have played an important role as he has sought new ways to feed the hungry in this time of a pandemic and beyond. 

Heide’s newest venture - Little John’s - envisions having a space to create meals from food gleaned from grocery stores and then distributed as healthy meals to people for whatever they can afford - or for free. (Here is a short video describing the project.)

And Heide knows that a key part of bringing this vision to reality is the generosity of people from faith communities willing to donate their time and their money. He has already appreciated their help as he hustled to create meal packages for families in the early days of the pandemic. 

“Church people can find common ground for common good” in projects like this, said Jon Anderson, executive director  Collaboration Project, which is helping connect people in congregations with the Little John’s project.

What has made this partnership particularly interesting is the journey Heide has taken to embrace the outreach of people of faith without abandoning his own skepticism of faith.

Raised Presbyterian, Heide moved away from belief as he grew up. “I am always a question-asking guy,” he said. “I could not ever get answers that made sense to me.”

Nor was he particularly impressed by the people who claimed they were Christians. 

“I have read more of the Bible than 98% of the people who follow it,” he said, “but I watched people push so much of a political agenda and so much of their hatred and use the Bible as a weapon which was a huge turn-off to me to even be around people of faith.”  

And yet today, Heide observed, “Of my tightest circle of friends, three of my five best friends are Christians and two of them are pastors.”

He tells the story of getting to know Joshua Miller, a pastor who was part of a start-up church in Madison called The Bridge from 2012 to 2017. They were both at a science fair at Leopold Elementary School that serves residents of both Madison and Fitchburg just south of the Beltline. Students had mixed corn starch and water to form a gooey substance they could walk on. 

“I held kids’ hands as they walked on water,” Heide remembered. “Josh washed their feet. It was very Biblical.”

But afterwards, when he learned that Miller was there as part of a church group, Heide’s face changed from smiles to what he described as “ugh.” Heide said he is a firm believer of separation of church and state - especially church and school. But Heide and Miller kept their conversation going and soon became good friends. 

Add into the mix Casey Johnson, one of the pastors at Redeemer City Church - and Heide’s neighbor.  Johnson and Miller are the two pastors Heide now describes as in the tight circle of his five closest friends.

Heide has noticed that when people from churches like Redeemer City have come to help out with his meal distribution program, “there is no pressure, they are doing it because it is the right thing to do... I’ve gotten a chance to meet people who actually care about their fellow man.”

He knows it can sometimes be tricky for him to reach out to faith groups. He described it this way:

“People will be looking at me with these glossed-over love eyes about the work I do in the community and they will say, ‘Bless you, Jesus is doing his work through your hands,’  and I’ll say ‘thank you so much, but I’m an atheist.’  You can watch their face go from love and support and compassion to instant disrespect. It’s like everything I just said didn’t matter anymore because my faith was wrong.”

And yet he holds out hope that people from a variety of backgrounds can collaborate to make a difference in the community.

“Maybe somebody who’s an atheist can do good work,” he said. “Maybe somebody who’s a Jew can do good work. Maybe somebody who’s a Muslim can do great work. Maybe all together - not just among Christians - maybe we can all do amazing things if we stop looking at one another’s differences and unite to do the right thing for people.”

That’s what Heide hopes his Little John’s project will do.

He is about to sign a lease with an option to buy for 25,000 square feet of space in the former A1 Furniture store at 5302 Verona Rd. (the access is off Anton Drive). Once the lease is set, he will begin to create the food preparation space so the food gathered from grocery stores as it nears expiration can be blended into meals that can be packaged and delivered to those facing food insecurity. Later in 2021, he hopes to open the front of the building as a café where people can come in for food.

For now, the food sorting and packaging will happen at the Feed Kitchens, 1219 N Sherman Ave. There are a variety of ways people can volunteer. Here is a link to some of the options and a volunteer form.

People who would like more information about volunteering  can contact Shannon Heibler, the executive assistant for Little John’s at shannon@littlejohnsrestaurant.com.

Moving towards the vision of Little John’s in Fitchburg, though, is a big lift. Heide is about to launch a $3.5 million capital campaign, so money matters. He said he appreciates big donations, of course, but noted that if everyone in Dane County gave $10, that would get Little John’s to its goal. 

Donations by checks made out to Little John’s Restaurant can be mailed to Little John’s, 2935 S. Fish Hatchery Rd. #242, Fitchburg, WI 53711 or made online at this link. 

That idea of many people contributing little bits of time is one of Heide’s core principles.

He observed that about half the people in Dane County go to some form of worship on the weekends. 

“Can you imagine what this world or even this county would look like if every single week 200,000 people left their homes went out for two hours helping their fellow man?” Heide asked. “This would be the most beautiful county in the world. This could be a beautiful place if the people who read the book followed the book.”

Which takes him back to reflecting on religion. 

“I love Christ,” he said. “I think he’s amazing. If you look at what he did and how he acted and how he treated people. He loved and looked up to everyone. He had prostitutes and lepers and it didn’t matter. He was there for them and he listened to them and he heard them and he loved them.” 

So a final thought from an atheist - or perhaps an agnostic - who has come to value his partnership with church folk:

“We have all these resources in our faith community but we are not leveraging them. We are doing some pretty Christ-like stuff. So why can’t we engage the Christian community to be a part of it?”

 Anderson said Collaboration Project will help Little John’s make some of those connections it needs. Congregations looking for ways their members can help out with issues of food insecurity have a natural affinity for feeding the hungry. As the new space emerges in Fitchburg, church people can help with tours to expand awareness. Collaboration Project plans to do video interviews and encourage monetary donations. 

“Dave’s recognition of food shortages and gaps with food waste and turning that into healthy, low-cost meals for people in need is awesome,” Anderson said. “Dave has a huge heart for the community that overlaps with the passion of church folk.”

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