A chef feeds spirits as well as
stomachs at Monterey Beach Church
On the beach: Alvin Siekert serving breakfast. Other images picture clients,
volunteers, and the breakfast Siekert prepared for them.
BY DIANE GSELL
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK TREGENZA
It’s a Friday morning in early summer and Alvin Siekert is assessing the local bounty on offer at the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers’ Market at Monterey Peninsula College. He grabs a fresh bunch of summer savory to pair with the salmon he’ll serve in a frittata that Sunday. en he weighs his budget restrictions as he considers the asparagus he’d like to serve alongside the frittata.
Unlike many of the chefs who seek inspiration at this market, Siekert can’t adjust what he charges for his meals to reflect the cost of ingredients. e price is always the same: zero dollars and zero cents.
The clientele? “Our friends who live outdoors,” is the respectful and loving term that founding pastor and advocate for the homeless, Brian Bajari, uses to describe the men and women Siekert cooks for at Monterey’s unofficial Beach Church every Sunday. The church has served Monterey’s homeless for six years, putting forth a welcoming vibe to all, regardless of faith—or non-faith—at its informal services near the Del Monte Beach volleyball courts. And at least as importantly, the breakfast that Siekert serves before the services offers a chance for community volunteers and the homeless attendees to break bread together, feeding souls, as well as stomachs, and creating greater understanding. “The culture of hospitality always overcomes the culture of demonization,” Bajari observes.
To that end, Siekert takes it upon himself to provide a dignified culinary experience and the most healthful and delicious food he can. Sometimes there will be a brisket or two, slow roasted for no less than 14 hours. There’s almost always a fresh, vibrant salad accented with fresh lime juice and maybe a hint of maple syrup. Nutrient-rich quinoa might find its way into the mix, and a seasonal fruit crumble or a quick bread might balance the savory offerings.
Quick to share the credit, Siekert makes it clear that he doesn’t provide the meals alone.
His Pacific Grove neighbors were the original donors to cover his expenses, and he now seeks contributions from those who pass by his displays at area farmers’ markets and outside of Grove Market. One of Siekert’s greatest sources of pride stems from the fact that some of his original Washington Park donors are still contributing today, nearly five years later.
There are those businesses and individuals who pitch in a few dollars and others who have provided quality ingredients at a discount. There are also those who donate time by helping to cook or serve. From commercial kitchen pros to home chefs to high school students, Siekert has a loyal inner circle of culinary assistants.
But he discourages donations of prepared food.
“I rarely accept food because I don’t know the provenance of it,” he says, noting that many of the attendees have compromised immune systems, and he fears donated prepared foods might be spoiled and make them sick.
People who know him have compared Siekert’s quirky charm to that of a character out of a Steinbeck novel, and his path from a childhood in Milwaukee to the Monterey Bay area is certainly colorful: At the age of four, his family drove him across country to Washington state, camping out along the way, in search of a drier climate that would be better for his health.
As an adult, he worked as a rodeo clown and a search-and-rescue crew member before fine-tuning his culinary skills while working at the Sundance Lodge (now called Reindeer Lodge) on the Mount Rose Highway corridor outside of Reno. Now retired, he eventually settled in the Monterey Bay area where he worked as a caterer for 22 years. When Siekert saw a need for his talents at the Beach Church, he initially began volunteering on a monthly basis.
“People help people,” Siekert says, noting that he was introduced to this ethic in the campgrounds his family stopped in on their way across country when he was a child. “I saw a need, I have a skill set, and I like to use it.”
Gradually, Siekert realized that the Beach Church attendees were starting to count on his memorable meals and missed them when he didn’t show. So a year and a half ago, Siekert made a commitment to contribute on a weekly basis and he hasn’t missed a Sunday since.
He spends weekdays gathering donations and purchasing ingredients and then the real cooking starts on Saturday nights.
From 10pm, when the regular kitchen crew at Tillie Gort’s Café in Pacific Grove finishes work, until 8am Siekert and his team of volunteers create the next day’s meals.
When morning comes, Siekert loads his Beach Church bus to take the feast to a thankful group—lately about 75—gathering on the beach.
It’s a poignant reminder of how precarious the lives of the Beach Church’s attendees are that Sunday Beach Church services must be cancelled if it rains. The reason, Bajari says, is that the homeless have no place to go to get dry and warm up if they get wet, so holding a service in the rain would subject attendees to the risk of hypothermia and even death.
But the bus—which was funded through a GoFundMe campaign organized by fellow Pagrovian, Casey Lucius—allows Siekert on rainy days to serve his food to attendees right on the bus, or to send it with them in to-go containers to eat wherever they’re finding shelter.
To say that Siekert’s meals are appreciated would be an understatement. Beach Church attendee Rana Ghana finds the gatherings to be a relaxing respite from a living environment that can be quite stressful at times. The produce is what she most looks forward to. “Being new to the Salad Bowl of America, I really appreciate the freshness of it all,” she says. This past May, Bajari, the Beach Church’s founding pastor, stepped down from his role leading the Beach Church.
After several weeks of guest pastors filling in on a rotating basis, the Beach Church may have found a new leader in Rachel Bennett. Previously a deacon at Monterey’s Saint James Episcopal Church, Bennett is now a regular and welcome face at the Beach Church Sunday gatherings and has already helped arrange donations such as Ghana’s new tent.
It’s a time of transition, but the ministry that Siekert provides through his cooking has played an important role in holding the Beach Church together.
“He’s a persistent and stubborn and beautiful guy who will keep it going in all the right ways,” says Bajari of Siekert. “He’s the centerpiece of it all right now for sure.”
Diane Gsell is a freelance food stylist based out of Monterey. A former copywriter, she’s always eager to put a few words together when she sees sparks of culinary greatness.
HOW TO HELP: Cash donations toward Beach Church meals may be sent to 220 Forest Park Court, Pacific Grove, CA, 93950; call 831.402.0820 for pickup of donated supplies. Siekert can also be found with a donation table at the Monterey Peninsula College farmers’ market on Fridays, the Pacific Grove Farmers’ Market on Mondays and outside of Grove Market in Pacific Grove on most Saturdays. And, of course, Siekert is always serving food on the beach on Sunday mornings, rain or shine.
About the author
At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
