Mother Batie’s Kitchen Gets New Name, Look, and Life

Last fall, through The Heart of Detroit and a stirring article in the Free Press, Mitch introduced us to Mother Maude Batie. A pillar of the community, she has been serving hot meals to those in need for over 40 years. And today, with the help of local charities–and your generosity–Mother Batie’s Kitchen received a check for $100,000. This support means that she can remain in operation for at least two and a half years. Last October, she had just a week left.

The efforts to restore the soup kitchen brought three local charities together. First, the Heart of Detroit brought Mother Batie’s work into the spotlight. In November, A Time to Help Volunteers worked to paint, retile the, and restore the yard. And when the exterior of the building needed work, Mitch turned the Dream Scholars at the College for Creative Studies to, for the first time, put Mother Batie’s name on the home she has built. Nineteen colored 6-foot-by-7 inch tall letters, painted on Masonite, spell out “Mother Batie’s Kitchen.”